


Stars Dance

by noblecrescent



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Fairy Tale Style, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fantasy, Fluff, Frenemies, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Heroes, Jealousy, Mystery, Twins, sassy characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 51,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16725252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblecrescent/pseuds/noblecrescent
Summary: The Doctor knows she's not the most typical companion but she's the one who needs him most. Avalon Reynolds has grown up knowing the Doctor's stories all her life. Although she's troublesome, she has a heart of gold that the Doctor cannot deny. He brings her, Amy Pond & Lena Reynolds into the TARDIS & in doing so he starts setting the seeds for the biggest stories of his lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to this second Doctor Who story of mine, tentatively going under the the collection title "Fairy tale Memoirs". This story will be the rewrite of season 5 plus the Christmas special.
> 
> Our main OC (a ginger) will be looking like the actress Rachel Lefevre and our second OC will look like the actress Bella Heathcote.
> 
> This will eventually become an 11th Doctor/OC pairing story!

In a child's bedroom, a young ginger girl and an ashy brunette girl were knelt down beside the only bed in the room. Both were meant to be praying, although the brunette girl didn't think they would be praying to a figment of imagination.

"Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish," the ginger was praying. She missed her third friend, who sat on her bed, rolling her eyes.

"Amelia, I told you, Santa isn't real," the ashy brunette kneeling beside Amelia said, her voice a bit scratchy. "It's just some ploy to get market sells up-"

"Shut up, Lena ," Amelia opened her eyes and gave her friend a small frown. She was sick of this argument because no matter what she said, Lena would still refuse to believe it. "Santa  _is_  real."

"Nu-uh," Lena shook her head fast.

"Lena stop that, you're going to get dizzy," the second ginger-haired girl on Amelia's bed ordered. She stopped brushing a barbie doll's hair that she was holding to give Lena a scolding look. "And then you'll have to take your medicine again and Dad and Mum are going to get crossed with me for it."

"Avalon, tell your sister Santa  _is_  real," Amelia said. She knew Avalon was much more open-minded than her twin sister was. She believed in everything that wasn't real.

"Of course Santa is real," Avalon mumbled as she brushed the barbie's hair, rolling her icy blue eyes like it should have been logical that this was the truth.

"Avalon, don't do that. Dad says Santa is just a ploy for the hum-"

"Lena, be quiet," Avalon immediately said before her sister said some words Amelia should never know about.

"Sorry," Lena looked down, realizing her mistake.

"Anyways, were doing something important," Amelia reminded, re-taking her praying position, "Santa, I promise it's an emergency. There's a crack in my wall..."

Avalon looked up from the barbie and stared at the wall of Amelia's bedroom where a big, nasty crack was sprawled on. As Amelia continued to pray, Avalon hopped off the bed and went to the wall. There was always so much trouble with the stupid crack on the wall. No one believed Amelia that there were noises on the other side...but Avalon did. She knew it was something alien and despite the fact she told her parents, they didn't do anything to help Amelia. But that was always the way Avalon's family acted - they tried to be human as best as possible to fit in.

"Avalon, you have to stay away from it," Lena said nervously. She was afraid of the crack like Amelia was but her sister was always looking for trouble and going straight for the danger.

Although to Avalon it was more of her trying to see what made things tick. Even then as she walked up to the wall she didn't bother about any calls from her sister warning her of danger. Instead, she tried to dig her finger into the crack, as if it would poke into the other side. She was sure there was another side - but Amelia would probably never guess that on her own.

"Avalon..." Lena called again, more like whispered. She always did that when she became afraid. She wished Amelia would stop praying and help her get Avalon back, but unfortunately it seemed like Amelia was sticking to it.

"Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not, because, at night, there's voices. So please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman. Or..." Amelia stopped when they heard something crashing in the garden.

Avalon immediately spun around as Lena gasped loudly, terrified. All three girls remained silent for a moment, but then Avalon's eyes flickered to the bedroom window and she just couldn't resist.

"Lena, stay here," she ordered and rushed out of the room.

Amelia decided to go and see as well. She hurried to collect some shoes and a jacket. "Back in a moment!" she assured for Lena then ran out.

Lena breathed heavily and stood to her feet, slowly walking up to the bedroom window. She curled her fingers over her sleeves as she looked out. Her eyes widened when she saw a...blue box...

~ 0 ~

Avalon and Amelia ran outside of the house, Amelia wearing a red jacket and matching wellies unlike Avalon who was outside in her pajamas and no shoes. The doors of the TARDIS opened and a rope with a grappling hook was thrown out, latching into a lawn roller. Both girls watched as one hand and another came over the edge of the box followed by the Doctor's head.

"Can I have an apple?" was his first question. "All I can think about - apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new - never had cravings before," he straddled the TARDIS and looked back inside, "Whoa! Look at that!"

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked. She once again missed her friend's reaction to the strange sight.

Avalon's eyes were fixated on the lopsided blue box. There were so many things that ran through her head, but the main one was ' _I know him_ '. Needless to say, she was fascinated in an instant. "That's not the first question to ask," she distractedly said to Amelia before walking towards the Doctor and his box. "Are you the Doctor?" she demanded. For her, she had merely been asking but for the Doctor it was such a sight to see a little girl demanding something from him.

"Now how would you know that?" he asked, expressing bemusement.

"Because I do know," she said with the biggest smile on her face. "You're him, aren't you?"

If the Doctor had been amused before now he was properly entertained. "Yes, I am."

"Why is he soaking wet?" Amelia came to stand beside Avalon, trying to lean and see what was inside the box.

The Doctor swung both his legs to one side and sat properly over the box. "Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."

"Are you a policeman?" Amelia curiously asked.

"Why?" the Doctor stopped. "Did you call a policeman?"

"No, she called Santa," Avalon replied fast. "But you're better! You can help!"

"Help with what?"

"The crack in my wall," Amelia eyed her friend weirdly, wondering why she was so excited over this strange man.

"What cra...?" the Doctor suddenly gasped and fell to the ground, hand clutching his chest.

"Are you okay!?" Avalon rushed to him, Amelia following in suit.

The Doctor pulled himself to his knees, but still struggled to get himself back on track. This regeneration sure seemed to be a wonky one. "No, I'm fine, it's okay. This is all perfectly norm-" but he stopped against his will and released a golden wisp of regeneration energy.

"What is  _that_?" Avalon blinked with widened eyes.

Amelia, on the other side, felt a bit creeped out for a moment. "Who are you?"

The Doctor raised both his hands that were now glowing with the same colored energy. "I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?"

"Nothing scares me," Avalon proudly said. "Especially not you!"

"It just looks...weird," Amelia thought the man didn't look quite menacing, at least not the way her aunt described strangers.

"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head at them both. "I meant the crack in your wall," he nodded to Amelia. "Does it scare you?"

"Yes," Amelia said quietly.

"There's something there, I know it," Avalon was the complete opposite once again. She was excited to know that now they would be able to discover what was really on the other side of the crack. Because that's what the Doctor did, she heard from her family - he helped!

"Well, then, no time to lose," the Doctor sprang into action. "I'm the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander of." But as soon as he strode away, he walked straight into a tree and was knocked backwards onto the ground.

Avalon skipped up to the Doctor and looked down at the man. "If you can be stupid and walk into trees, then how come you tell us not to be stupid?"

"Well, you're a nice one," the Doctor remarked, unable to smile at the girl.

With a smile of her own, she helped him up and brought him to Amelia's house with the help of the latter. As soon as they were inside, Avalon's twin sister, Lena was waiting with fearful eyes by the threshold. When the Doctor saw her, she gasped and pulled back into the hallway.

"Lena!" Avalon went after her, leaving the Doctor with Amelia in the kitchen. "Lena! Lena, it's okay!"

"Avalon, you brought a stranger into Amelia's house!" Lena whispered frantically, her eyes filling with tears. "What if - what if he tries to hurt us-"

Avalon grabbed her sister by the shoulders, laughing a bit. "Lena, no, it's  _him_. It's the Doctor! You remember the story, right?"

Lena made a face for the first couple of seconds. "The...the Doctor?"

"Yes," Avalon nodded her head, letting go of Lena's shoulders. "I don't know how...but he finally showed up again! Isn't that great!?"

Lena's eyes drifted to the kitchen threshold where they could both hear the Doctor shooting down the apple Amelia had apparently given him. "But...but if he's the Doctor, then shouldn't we call Mum and Dad?"

"No!" Avalon's eyes widened. "No! If we do that...then they'll want to talk to him like boring adults do. This is our time, Lena. This is our time to meet him and...and ask him about that day."

"But we can't do that," Lena said quietly. She leaned closer to her sister and whispered her next words. "Amelia doesn't know that we're not fully human."

"Okay," Avalon realized Lena was right and that they would be unable to fully ask the Doctor all of their questions. "But...but we can still talk to him, right? We don't need to call any adults, okay?" Lena gave a small nod of her head. Avalon took her hand and excitedly led her back into the kitchen.

Amelia was in the middle of giving the Doctor a small yogurt. He practically snatched it fro her and ripped off the top. As soon as the yogurt went into his mouth he spit it out to the side. "I hate yogurt," he tasted the remnants of it in his mouth and cringed. "It's just stuff with bits in!"

"You said it was your favorite," Amelia frowned.

"New mouth, new rules," the Doctor excused himself and unceremoniously wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Eugh," Lena crinkled her nose. "Mister, do you want a napkin?"

The Doctor laughed for a short minute and doubled over with pain. "Agh!"

"What's wrong with you?" Avalon asked him.

"Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't any of you give me decent food!?" was the snappy response.

Avalon frowned suddenly, her eyes narrowing in such a way that it amused the Doctor how quickly she could put on an angry face for a seven year old. "You don't have to be mean. You're not supposed to be! That's not you!"

"Yeah?" the Doctor straightened up. "And just how am I supposed to be, then?"

"Nice!" Avalon tapped her head like it was obvious. "Just because you're hungry doesn't mean you have to be mean."

"Fair enough," the Doctor conceded, but he was almost sure the little girl was keeping something else. She carried herself with an aura of knowledge that apparently Amelia didn't know.

Sometime later, Amelia had begun to fry some bacon. Lena had been nice enough to give the Doctor a towel for his soaky appearance.

"Why are you wet?" she eyed him with a small frown. "Don't you know you can get sick like that? My Mum says the water is bad for you."

"No," Amelia looked over at her friend, "She says it's bad for  _you_. You're the one that's sick, remember?"

Lena nodded. The Doctor eyed the girl and noticed she did look a shade paler than the two gingers. Her voice also sounded much softer.

When Amelia finished with the bacon, she slid the plate to the Doctor on the table and anxiously waited for him to taste it.

Once again, the Doctor had disliked her food. He spit it back on the plate and pushed it away. "Bacon. That's bacon. Are you trying to poison me?"

"But that's what you wanted," Avalon said, rather irritated he was being this childish. Not even her little brother was this childish.

"No, I did not want that!"

Amelia tried her luck again, and this time came up with some beans. But just as the previous times, when the Doctor took his first forkful of it, he spit it out. "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans!"

"Ah!" Avalon waved her hands in exasperation. "You get one more try, mister!"

Amelia provided next some bread and butter.

"Bread and butter. Now you're talking," the Doctor rubbed his hands in anticipation while Amelia spread some butter over the toast. Amelia soon handed him the plate and wished with all her heart that this would be the snack he finally wanted. Because if not, she was pretty sure Avalon would kick him.

"Eugh!" the Doctor crinkled his nose but instead of putting the plate down like the last times, he walked for the backdoor.

"What's he..." Lena watched, confused, until he opened the door and threw the plate out to the garden.

"And stay out!" he shouted just as a cat hissed.

"Hey! That's my cat!" Avalon ran for the door but Lena pulled her back.

"It's not your cat," she corrected Avalon. "You're not supposed to feed it, remember?"

Avalon shrugged her shoulders and returned her attention to the Doctor. "I'm going to kick you if you keep wasting Amelia's food. Pick something already!"

The Doctor went straight for the fridge to find himself the right snack. He went down to the freezer and started pulling some boxes out until he let out a small 'Aha!' and took out a fish fingers box. Then he took out a container of custard.

"Gross," Avalon declared the moment she saw both items.

But, this time, it was the right combination.

Later, the three girls and the Time Lord sat around the table eating respective snacks. While Amelia and Avalon had taken to ice cream, Lena preferred some cut up fruit. The Doctor was the first to finish with his snack, and he did it with style. He picked up the bowl his custard was in and drank the remainder all in one go. When he put his bowl down, he found Avalon, who sat closest to him, staring at him with a funny look on her face.

"You're kinda gross," she remarked with such ease he laughed. It was clear she hadn't grasped the kind, polite manners all humans seemed so strict on. He was happy for that.

"Here," Lena reached for a napkin and handed it to him, gesturing he had a left over custard mustache on his face.

"Do you know how to eat right?" Avalon tilted her head, one hand supporting her cheek. "Or do you just prefer to eat like that?"

"Avalon," Amelia made a gesture for her to quit asking questions like that.

"What?" Avalon blinked, clueless of the meaning behind Amelia's gestures.

"Avalon? Is that your name?" the Doctor called the girl's attention.

"Mhm! Avalon Reynolds!"

"Do you know what your name means?"

"Oh! I do!" she dropped her ice cream spoon and began to explain. "It's part of the Arthurian legend! It's this small island-" she gestured with her hands, "-where King Arthur's sword was made and then later where the King recovered from a battle!"

"You know your stuff," the Doctor blinked, truly impressed with her knowledge.

"I know everything about legends and fairytales," Avalon boasted happily.

"She does," Amelia playfully rolled her eyes.

"Everything?" the Doctor feigned some doubt, even though he knew it was impossible for her to know everything about the topic. But she seemed so passionate about it he didn't want to cut it short.

"Mhm! I love fairytales. Do you like them!?"

"Yes I do," the Doctor nodded. "Do you have a favorite?"

"Sleeping Beauty," groaned the other two girls.

"I love the story!" Avalon agreed. "I've read it a hundred times!"

"Just the modern ones I assume?"

Avalon's smile turned into a confused one. "What do you mean? What else am I supposed to read?"

"Well...you know...there are plenty of other versions..."

"But those are not nice," Avalon crinkled her nose. She was well aware that many of her preferred fairytales had bad origins and she was not interested in ruining her vision of them.

"No, I meant, like the Brothers Grimm? Do you know them?" the Doctor judged by the blank face Avalon had that she did not know anything. "Okay, well, see those are one of the original ones. But actually, they based their version of Sleeping Beauty on the original French version. " _La Belle au bois dormant"._

Avalon tried to repeat that in one go but proved to be more difficult. "La Belle wa...La Belle au...La Be..." she shook her head, her ginger curls dancing from the movement. "I can't say that!"

"Maybe with some practice you can," the Doctor tapped her nose, making her smile again. "But my advice is go back in time for these classic versions of your fairytales. They're beautiful and they deserve some recognition. I know you'd love them."

Avalon beamed at the suggestion, taking it to heart...not that the Doctor would know until many years later. "Okay! I will! I promise!"

"Great, now we'll have to hear more about the stories," Amelia muttered but heard Lena chuckling.

"And you two?" the Doctor called to them. "What are your names again?"

"Lena," the brunette girl responded softly. "Lena Reynolds."

"Oh...you're..." the Doctor pointed between her and Avalon.

"Twin sisters," went both.

"Fraternal, before you ask," Avalon added after a moment.

"And you?" the Doctor gave a look at Amelia.

"Amelia Pond."

"Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale. I can see why you're friends," the Doctor smiled at her and Avalon. "So then, where exactly are we? Scotland?" he gestured to Amelia due to her clear Scottish accent, "Or are we in England?" he then gestured to the two English twins.

"England," the twins responded.

"Rubbish," Amelia muttered.

"So what about your mum and dad, then?" the Doctor once again looked between the girls to find out whose house they were in. "Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."

"I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt," Amelia answered.

"I don't even have an aunt," the Doctor said.

"But you had a friend," Avalon remarked, not that the Doctor understood very well.

"So, your aunt. Where is she?" he asked Amelia.

"She's out."

Now surprised, the Doctor's eyes flickered from one girl to the next. "And she left all three of you alone?"

"We're not scared," Avalon boredly remarked as she dug her spoon into her ice cream. "Besides, she said she would be back soon."

"I can see you're not scared," the Doctor wanted to add 'especially you' but decided against it. "Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard, and look at you all, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"

"What?" went Lena curiously.

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."

Avalon snorted, clearly against the idea as well. "I'm not scared," she repeated and stuck her spoon with ice cream into her mouth, giving a casual shrug while the Doctor smiled again.

~ 0 ~

The three girls stood by the doorway while the Doctor examined the long crack on Amelia's bedroom wall. "You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen."

Amelia tossed an apple in her hand. "I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them." She turned the apple over to reveal a carved smiley face on it.

The Doctor returned and took the apple, giving it a small toss in the air. "She sounds good, your mum. I'll keep it for later."

"Where would you keep it?" he heard Avalon mumble under her breath with full blown disapproval.

He went back to the wall and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing - where's the draught coming from?" he ran the sonic along the crack then pulled it away to read the results. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?"

"Clearly we don't or else we wouldn't have asked," came Avalon's logical response.

"It's a crack," the Doctor began but Avalon once again cut in to make a remark.

"But that we clearly knew."

"Avalon!" Lena scolded, thinking her sister to be rude.

"I'm just saying," Avalon raised her hands. "Clearly we know that it's a crack so why does he have to say it? And of course we didn't know what the crack actually is or we wouldn't have asked him to come into the room and check it himself."

"Yeah, you want to be impressed then, Miss Reynolds?" the Doctor teasingly called.

"Mhm," the girl folded her arms and raised her head, trying to pretend to be far older and serious.

"Okay," the Doctor turned to the wall again and gently ran his fingers along the crack. "Here's something: if you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall. It's  _everywhere_. It's everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together...right here in the wall of this bedroom." He turned around to witness the clearly shocked look on Avalon's face.

"Woah..." she whispered.

"Impressed?"

With a wide smile, she nodded her head.

"Sometimes, can you hear…"

"A voice?" Amelia immediately guessed and hoped he would say yes. Often times when she told her aunt, she was cast off as delirious or childish.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded and pressed an ear to the wall. When he heard a slurred, echoing voice, he pulled back and walked to the night stand where a glass of water was placed at. He threw the water to the side and then used it to enhance his hearing on the wall.

_Prisoner Zero has escaped._

"Prisoner Zero?" he repeated.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," Amelia drew on her knowledge. "That's what I heard. What does it mean?"

_Prisoner Zero has escaped._

The Doctor took a step backwards from the wall. "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?"

"That it's  _cool_?" Avalon was pretty much excited over the case unlike her sister and friend.

"Well yes, but...you also need a better wall," the Doctor pulled on the desk in his way and moved it to the side. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or..."

"Or what?" Lena narrowed her eyes a bit suspiciously. It all sounded too easy to fix what seemed like a big problem.

"You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Aha."

"Everything's going to be fine."

"Liar," Avalon playfully disapproved. "Can you fix the crack, then? For real?"

"I'm going to try right now," the Doctor promised. He faced the wall again and aimed the sonic at the crack. As it activated, the crack began to widen, filling the room with a bright light. Despite it being hard to look at, Avalon made an effort and caught what looked to be like cells on the other side. While the echoing voice grew louder and clearer, the Doctor hurried himself to get the crack to close.

"Ah!" Lena cried when a giant blue eyes peered through the crack. "Avalon!"

But Avalon was fascinated with what she saw. Even Amelia was curious of what exactly they were looking at.

A small ball of light shot through the crack and seemingly struck the Doctor. As he fell back against the bed, the crack sealed right up.

"What just happened!?" Lena fearfully asked, refusing to let go of her sister's hand. "Is it...is it gone!? Is it coming back!? Is it going to hurt us!?"

"Nah," the Doctor got up from his fall and viewed the wall without the crack. "See? Told you it would close. Good as new."

"But that thing..." Avalon's eyes were glued to the wall. "It kept saying something about a prisoner. Is its guard or something?"

"Whatever it was, it sent me a message," the Doctor turned around and pulled out the psychic paper for them to see. "Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'," he read off. "But why tell us? Unless..."

"Unless what?" Amelia saw the immediate change in the Doctor's face and frowned.

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here. But he couldn't have. We'd know..." the Doctor wasn't quite sure he could stick with that statement and ran out of the room.

"But if he's here, then shouldn't we leave!?" Lena asked after they followed.

"It's difficult," the Doctor blinked rapidly, trying to get his mind to work with him. "Brand-new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing...in the corner..." he slowly turned, "...of my eye." He was interrupted by the sound of a bell clanging from outside.

"What is that?" Avalon came to the window to see what was making the noise.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor broke into a run and headed for the stairs.

"You can't run down the stairs!" Lena called out in vain from the rails.

"He's not gonna listen to rules," Avalon turned around and ran as well.

The Doctor came to an abrupt stop outside in the garden, just a couple of inches from the TARDIS. "I've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!"

"But...it's just a box!" Amelia eyed him a little like he was crazy.

"Boxes don't make those noises," Avalon said knowingly.

The Doctor worked fast to get the grappling hook and rope. "It's not a box. It's a time machine."

"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?" Amelia's eyes looked from the Doctor to the box.

"Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilized. Five-minute hop into the future should do it," the Doctor looped the rope through the door handles.

Amelia looked at the twins beside her and then the Doctor, "Can I come?"

Avalon blinked at Amelia, "You want to go with a stranger?"

"Don't you do that all the time?" Amelia countered.

"It's different - they're not aliens!" Avalon snapped, a lot for a seven year old. "And besides, I know what I'm doing!"

Amelia rolled her eyes and looked at the Doctor for her answer.

"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes, I'll be right back," the Doctor hopped onto the edge and prepared to go inside.

"People always say that," Amelia frowned.

The Doctor jumped down to the ground and walked up to three girls, "Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

"I do," Avalon said so automatically that the Doctor stopped and gave her a curious look. "I trust you'll come back."

"I'll be back in five minutes!" he promised and hurried up to the box. He climbed back and held onto the rope, giving the girls a smile before jumping in, "Geronimo!" the TARDIS doors slammed shut and the girls watched the box disappear.

Amelia dashed back to the house, going up to her room. Lena noticed the way Avalon was staring at the now empty space in the garden.

"Avalon, what are you thinking of?"

"That we actually just met the Doctor...and we let him go like that," Avalon shrugged.

"But...he said he'll come back, five minutes max."

"Mm," Avalon swayed her head. "If his box was malfunctioning...I think it might be a little more than five minutes."

Lena glanced back at the house, thinking of Amelia. "Should we tell Amelia?"

"Nah, she'll figure it out soon!" Avalon cheerily skipped back into the house.

~ 0 ~

The next time the TARDIS materialized back in Amelia's back-garden, it was fully daylight. The box's doors flung open as the Doctor emerged through billowing smoke, a cloth held over his nose and mouth, "Amelia! Avalon! Lena!" he ran towards the house, "I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!" he used the screwdriver on the locked door and finally got it open after a few tries.

~ 0 ~

A male nurse dressed in blue scrubs and a woman with medium-length ashy-brunette hair were following a second woman in a business suit down a hospital corridor into a ward room with two rows of unconscious patients. The second woman stopped in front of a patient, the brunette and male nurse beside her.

"So. They all called out at once, that's what you're saying?" the second woman asked, the pair beside her nodded, "All of them, all the coma patients," she flipped through the patient's file, "You do understand that these people are all comatose, don't you? They can't speak."

"Yes, Dr. Ramsden," the nurse nodded again.

"Then why are you wasting my time?"

"With all due respect, Dr. Ramsden, but I was with Rory when they called for you," the brunette spoke up with a soft voice.

"They called for  _me_?" Dr. Ramsden raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, and I'm a witness," the brunette said.

Dr. Ramsden shook her head, she couldn't exactly take the woman's word as a plausible witness. Her condition probably made her a bit woozy and hallucinogenic.

"Doctor," the patient the trio stood in front of called softly, "Doctor."

The trio looked around as every other patient in the room called for the doctor...

~ 0 ~

The Doctor opened his eyes with a small groan, his head pounding for a second as his vision cleared up. Someone had hit him hard on the head at the staircase after he had come in searching for Amelia and her friends. He saw a female police officer dressed in a very short skirt speaking into her radio.

"White male, mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up, I've got him restrained," she ended the conversation and looked at the Doctor, "Oi, you! Sit still."

"Cricket bat, I'm getting cricket bat..." he shook his head.

"You were breaking and entering."

The Doctor tried standing up only to realize he was hand-cuffed to the radiator behind him, "Well, that's much better. Brand-new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed."

"Do you want to shut up now? I've got back-up on the way!" the officer warned.

"Hang on, no, wait - you're a policewoman..." he had just realized that.

"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"

"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia? Avalon? Lena? Where are the girls?" he looked around frantically.

"Amelia Pond?"

"Yeah. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised her and her friends five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time."

"How long?"

"Six months."

"No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised," the Doctor sniffed loudly for some reason, "Well, what about Avalon and Lena Reynolds? Where are they?"

"Not here," the officer eyed him as she walked away and reached for her radio.

"What happened to them?" he demanded, "What happened to Amelia Pond? Where are Avalon and Lena Reynolds? If they're not here then where are they?"

The officer ignored him and spoke into her radio, "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, this guy knows something about Amelia Pond."

The Doctor tried the handcuffs again and sighed deeply when he saw it was no use. His eyes looked past the officer to the door from before, something was in there and that poor officer had no idea...

~ 0 ~

Dr. Ramsden was examining the first patient that had spoken, "I don't think they were even conscious..." she remarked.

"Dr Ramsden, there is another sort of, um, funny thing," the nurse, Rory, spoke up again.

"Yes, I know. Dr. Carver told me about your conversation. We've been very patient with you, Rory. You're a good enough nurse, but for God's sake!"

"I've seen them," he insisted.

"These patients are under 24-hour supervision! We know if their blood-pressure changes. There's no possibility you'd have seen them wandering in the village! Why are you giving me your phone?!"

Rory was holding out his phone to her, "It's a camera too."

"Is your friend going to back you up on this one too?" she eyed the brunette who just remained quiet at the accusation. Dr. Ramsden reached for Rory's phone when her paper beeped and so she took it out instead, "You need to take some time off, Rory. A lot of time off. Start now," Rory opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off, "Now!"

Rory nodded and turned to the brunette who offered a comforting smile, "I'm sorry Rory," she whispered as they walked out.

~ 0 ~

"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now," the Doctor repeated for the third time to the officer.

" _I_  live here," she finally spoke to him again.

"But you're the police."

"Yes, and this is where I live. You got a problem with that?!"

"How many rooms?" he asked, deciding it was best to change the subject to get back to business.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."

"Why?"

"Because it will change your life."

"Five," the officer pointed to each door as she counted, "One, two, three, four, five."

"Six," he corrected, surprising her.

"Six?"

"Look."

"Look where?"

"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."

The officer slowly turned and saw the door that had definitely  _not_  been there for her a moment ago, "That's... That is not possible. How's that possible?"

"There's a perception filter round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it."

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed..."

"The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff me now!" the Doctor ordered but the officer was in a trance as she walked for the door at the end of the hall.

"I don't have the key. I lost it."

"How can you have lost it?! Stay away from that door!" he called but she kept going, "Do not touch that door!" she put her hand on the doorknob, "Listen to me! Do not open that..." she turned the knob, "Why does no-one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" she entered the room, "Again...?" the Doctor searched his pockets frantically, "My screwdriver, where is it?"

The officer entered the room which was dusty and contained only old boxes on the floor. There were water damage spots on the walls, barely a scrap of curtain on the window and a table in the center of the room.

"Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?"

"There's nothing here," the officer remarked as she carefully looked around.

"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room," the Doctor called, "What makes you think you could see it? Now, please, just get out!" the Doctor ordered, sighing when the woman wouldn't listen.

"Silver, blue at the end?" she spotted said silver thing on the table in front of her.

"My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here."

"Must have rolled under the door..." the Doctor shut his eyes at the bad luck he seemed to have even in this new incarnation.

"Yeah. Must have. And then it must have jumped up on the table..."

"Get out of there!" the Doctor shouted, "Get out of there!" but the officer reached to pick up the screwdriver, "Get out!"

The officer backed away suddenly when she thought she heard something. Behind her was an eel-like alien that hung from the roof. It was covered in goo and had a mouth full of sharp teeth. The officer looked one way and then the other but saw nothing.

"What is it? What are you doing?" the Doctor called, frustrated he was still cuffed.

"There's nothing here, but..."

"Corner of your eye."

"What is it?"

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it," the Doctor said as the creature seemed to toy with the woman, "Do not... look."

And then she saw it...

The officer screamed, "Get out!" the Doctor ordered, the officer ran out of the room, "Give me that!" he snatched his screwdriver from her hand and used it on the door's lock before using it on his handcuffs, however it didn't work on his hand cuffs, "What's the bad alien done to you?"

"Will that door hold it?" the officer looked at the door with wide eyes.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space - they're all terrified of wood," the Doctor rolled his eyes as he tried figuring out the screwdriver.

A bright light flashed around the edges of the door, "What's that? What's it doing?"

The Doctor wiped his screwdriver with his finger, "I don't know, getting dressed? Run. Just go. Your back-up's coming, I'll be fine."

"There is no back-up."

He looked up, surprised, "I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up."

"I was pretending. It's a  _pretend_  radio," the officer looked at him with a 'duh' look.

"You're a policewoman!"

"I'm a kissogram!" she removed her hat and let ginger hair cascade down her back.

At the same time, the door burst open and a man in blue-overalls holding the leash of a large Rottweiler stood at the doorway...the same man who was a patient at the hospital.

"But it's just..." the officer remarked as the man stepped out into the hallway.

"No, it isn't. Look at the faces," the Doctor instructed.

The man growled and barks while his dog remained impassive.

"What? I'm sorry, but what?" the officer looked down at the Doctor, completely shocked.

"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two. Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?" the Doctor questioned, the man only snarled back and advanced, showing its pointy teeth, "Stay, boy!" the creature stopped, "Her and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up."

"I didn't send for back-up!" the officer reminded.

"I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives," he whisper-shouted at her then looked at the creature again, "OK, yeah, no back-up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we  _had_  back-up, then you'd have to kill us!"

_"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."_

"What's that?" the woman asked and looked around.

"That would be back-up," he answered her, "OK, one more time. We do have back-up and that's definitely why we're safe," he said to the creature.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration..."

The creature turned into one of the other rooms. The Doctor banged his screwdriver on the floor in the hopes it would work again, "Work, work, work. C'mon."

The creature had gone out to one of the windows and looked outside.

The Doctor finally got his screwdriver to work and used it on the handcuffs, "Run!" he said to the woman as he jumped to his feet, "Run!" he pushed her towards the stairs and quickly made their way down.

They ran outside of the house where the Doctor used the screwdriver on the door, "Kissogram?" he asked her.

"Yes!"

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?" he stood straight.

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid!" she followed him away from the house, "What's going on? Tell me! Tell me!"

The Doctor had gone up to the TARDIS, "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"

"Yes!"

"Me too," the TARDIS wasn't opening up for some reason, "No, no, don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"

_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated._

"Come on," the officer grabbed the Doctor by the arm, deciding they were not going to be able to enter that small box.

"No, wait, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed," he ran up to the garden shed and examined as it as much as he could, "I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one. Let's go," the officer gestured again, becoming nervous.

"But the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least," he sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger on the wood and tasting it, "12 years," he concluded and turned back to the woman with newfound anger, "I'm not six months late, I'm  _twelve years_  late!"

"He's coming!" the woman's eyes flickered to the house.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go!"

"This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes?!" the officer snapped, blinking when she realized what she said.

"What?" the Doctor's mouth nearly fell open.

"Come on," she insisted.

"What!?"

"Come on!" she pulled him by the arm.

"What?" was all the Doctor could muster up as he was pulled away by a grown up Amelia Pond.

~ 0 ~

"You're Amelia," the Doctor stopped in the roadway and faced the ginger woman.

Amelia kept walking however, 'You're late!"

"Amelia Pond, you were one of the little girls!" the Doctor looked her up and down in disbelief.

"I'm Amelia and you're late."

"What happened?" he asked frantically.

If Amelia Pond was grown up...then what about the little Reynolds twins?

"12 years," Amelia reminded.

"You hit me with a cricket bat," he frowned, recalling that pain.

"12 years."

"A cricket bat!"

"12 years and four psychiatrists," Amelia crossed her arms and almost pouted.

Out of her, Avalon and Lena,  _she_  was the one who people deemed crazy when they spoke about the Doctor. Her aunt never believed her when she said the Doctor had been there at her sleep over. And, because of who Avalon turned out to be as the years went by no one really believed her either. Lena's illness had only gotten worse throughout the years and so they all blamed it as a hallucination or a very realistic dream. But neither of the Reynolds twins ever insisted like Amelia did. For some reason, the Reynolds twins hardly spoke about the night with anyone. But Amy wouldn't let the man go and so had been brought to numerous doctors and four psychiatrists to help her with her "condition".

" _Four_?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"I kept biting them," Amelia mumbled.

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real."

"Alright, and what happened to Avalon and Lena, then? Where are they?" he asked as they entered the park.

Amelia sighed, "Lena? She's with Rory...and Avalon, well...probably running."

"Running? From what?"

Amelia looked away, preferring not to get into that whole matter. Avalon, while still very protective of her sister, had a very...tetchy attitude that got her into some issues often...

 _"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated,_ " the same voice from the crack now boomed over the speakers of an ice-cream van.

Amelia quickly jumped for the distraction, "No, no, no, come on… What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" she ran towards it, leaving a very confused Doctor behind.

~ 0 ~

A woman with dark, ginger locks entered a pharmacy and walked straight towards the counter, her boot's heels clicking after her. She wore a pink sweater vest with a white buttoned-up blouse underneath, its white collars sticking over the vest. She accompanied it with white jeans and knee-length brown boots with small heals. Her icy-blue eyes looked around the place, her hand resting over the opening of her purse.

"Miss Reynolds, what can I do for you?" one of the pharmacists moved to help her.

"Tasha, I need a refill for the inhaler - actually we need a  _new_  inhaler."

"What happened to the last one?" Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"I may have broken it," the ginger mumbled.

"Avalon, how do you break an inhaler?"

Avalon Reynolds groaned, thinking it was obvious the only way she could break it. "Clearly on accident! Please, can I get a new one?"

"I'm sorry but the insurance doesn't cover a second one."

"Tasha please, I need it. I'm talking life or death, here!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Tasha sighed, "Look, the inhaler would cost-"

"Whatever amount you're gonna say, I don't have it," Avalon leaned over the counter. "I need to replace it before Lena needs it. Can I just...I don't know...put it on...layover or something?"

"It doesn't work that way," Tasha shook her head with a sad smile and walked away to help another customer.

Avalon frowned and looked down at the clear counter. "I'm getting the inhaler," she mumbled, eyes scanning for the correct inhaler.

~ 0 ~

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" the Doctor demanded from the ice-cream driver.

"It's supposed to be Claire De Lune," the vendor replied, sounding confused as he switched, or tried to anyways, stations.

The Doctor picked up the player and listened, " _Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated._ "

The Doctor stepped away from the van and noticed the voice emerging from other technology people around them carried.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia asked. The Doctor leaped over a low white fence into a front garden, leaving Amelia to run after him.

The Doctor entered the house where an elderly woman was watching the television. There was a blue eye that filled the screen that wouldn't disappear as much as the woman tried flipping channels.

"Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," the Doctor said then looked at Amelia, recalling her outfit for the day, "Also, crimes. Let's have a look," he took the remote from the old woman.

"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel," the woman saw Amelia and smiled. "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?'

"Well, sometimes."

"I thought you were a nurse."

"I can be a nurse," Amelia shrugged, tugging her skirt lower.

"Or, actually, a nun."

"I dabble."

"Amy, who is your friend?" the women looked at the Doctor, confused.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia," the Doctor frowned.

"Yeah, now I'm Amy," the ginger crossed her arms.

"Amelia Pond - that was a great name," he insisted, "All three of you had excellent, fairy-tale, names!"

"I don't like fairy tales and Lena doesn't believe in them," she reminded.

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before," the old women studied the Doctor.

"Not me. Brand-new face..." he pointed a finger at himself, "First time on," he then turned for Amy, "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

"I go to parties and I kiss people," Amy cleared her throat, "With outfits. It's a laugh."

"You were a little girl five minutes ago," the Doctor frowned. The little girl from five minutes ago was now  _kissing_  people?

"You're worse than my aunt," Amy said.

"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt," he quickly pointed at the elderly woman, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself," he picked up a radio and used the screwdriver on it. The same message was repeated on it in different languages, "OK, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world," he moved to the window and opened it up to look out.

"What's up there? What are you looking for?" Amy looked from behind, seeing nothing but a blue sky and white clouds above.

"OK, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core...they're going to need a 40% fission blast," the Doctor turned to them as a young man entered the house, the Doctor walking up to him as he continued to talk, " But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes," the Doctor had to stand on his toes due to the man's taller statute, "What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."

"20 minutes to what?" Amy asked.

"Are you the Doctor?" the man was a bit confused with all the eyeing, "He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor, it's him," he looked at Amy.

"I know," Amy nodded.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked, bemused as he sat on the couch.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it? It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy snapped then looked at the Doctor, "20 minutes to what?"

The Doctor was flipping through the channels of the television again, the eye with its message on all of them,"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the  _planet_. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. 20 minutes to the end of the world."

~ 0 ~

The same message was being heard in the pharmacy where Avalon was still in. She took a good look around and saw everyone distracted. In one quick, swift move, she jumped over the counter and reached for the inhaler from the other side.

"Hey!" Tasha exclaimed when she saw what was going on.

"I'm sorry, but it's for my sister!" the ginger hopped off the counter and dashed out of the pharmacy.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Amy were now walking down the roadway again, "What is this place? Where am I?" the Doctor eyed the small town.

"Leadworth," Amy replied.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it."

"Is there an airport?"

"No."

"A nuclear power station?"

"No."

"Even a little one?"

"No."

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester, half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour," the Doctor groaned. "Do we have a car?"

"...no."

"Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut! _What_  is that?" the Doctor violently pointed at a small pond.

"It's a duck pond," Amy followed him up to the pond.

"Why aren't there any ducks?"

Amy groaned, "Not you too," he looked back at her with a questioning look. She sighed, "Avalon asks the same thing."

"She was one smart cookie," he smiled, "She's right to ask cos if it doesn't have any ducks..."

"...then how do we know it's a duck pond?" Amy finished with a roll of her eyes, "Yeah, I know. She asks that and it frankly gets on my nerves."

The Doctor was about to remark on that when he had another regeneration tremor that made him sit down and clutch his chest, "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

The sky darkened up and made both look up.

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy frowned as the sun turned gray, "So what's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the plane," the Doctor stood up and looked at the field where all the villagers were taking pictures of the sun, "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!"

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up," Amy frowned.

"Why would I wind you up?"

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed me."

"Then I grew up."

The Doctor groaned, "Oh, you never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it," he smacked his forehead suddenly, startling Amy, "I saw it and I missed it," and another smack, "What did I see? I saw... What did I see?" he focused real hard until he figured out what he had missed and turned to Rory, "20 minutes. I can do it. 20 minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."

"No," Amy said instead.

"I'm sorry?"

"No!" she grabbed him by the tie and pushed him against a car as the driver stepped out. She slammed his tie into the door and locked the car with the remote.

"Amy! No! No! What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

"Who are you?" she demanded from him.

"You know who I am."

"No, really, who are you?"

"Look at the sky! End of the world, 20 minutes," he reminded, pointing up to the sky.

"Better talk quickly, then!"

"Amy, I am going to need my car back," the driver had remained at her side.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee," Amy shooed him off.

The Doctor reached inside his pocket and tossed the apple to her, "Catch," Amy caught it and saw the same smile face carved onto it, "I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you, Avalon and Lena, 12 years ago is true. I'm real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over."

"I don't believe you..."

He gripped her wrist, "Just 20 minutes. Just believe me for 20 minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one," Amy studied the apple for a second and looked up at him, "Amy, believe for 20 minutes."

Amy unlocked the car door, "What do we do?"

"What do we do?"

"Stop that nurse!" the Doctor ran for Rory the nurse.

~ 0 ~

"Where is she, Rory?" Avalon was now standing beside Rory Williams, her best friend, losing her patience as the man continued to take a picture of another man with his dog.

"I sent her to Amy's," Rory replied as he went for another picture. "I thought you would be there. And..." his eyes had caught something in Avalon's hand, "...what's that-" but he couldn't finish due to the fact the Doctor had ran over to them and snatched his cellphone from his hand.

"The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" he stood right in front of Rory who could only blink at the moment.

"Oh my god..." Avalon blinked and turned the Doctor around, a smile spreading across her face. "It's  _you_..."

"Amy?" Rory frowned as Amy caught up to them.

"What do we have here?" Avalon asked the Doctor, the man severely confused as she eyed him up and down. "I thought you were gonna be late, honestly, but not by this much!"

"Who are you?" the Doctor frowned.

She smirked. "The Arthurian Legend...the island where King Arthur's sword was made..."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized who the second ginger was. "A-Avalon?"

"Hello, fairy tale man," she chuckled, "You're late! You know poor Amy's had to go to four psychiatrists because of you?"

"What? Hold on, what did you call me?"

"Well, I told her not to talk about you but he didn't want to listen-"

"Avalon," Amy crossed her arms and sent her friend a mock-glare.

"Right, what's done is done," Avalon shrugged her shoulders.

"Uh, hello, back to business? Twenty minutes?" Amy reminded.

"Oh, right, yes!" the Doctor turned back to Rory.

"This is Rory, he's a...friend..."

"Amy," Avalon frowned at the introduction. She wasn't surprised by it, but it didn't mean she was letting it go either.

" _Boyfriend_ ," Rory corrected.

"Kind of boyfriend."

"Amy!" Rory exclaimed, a bit hurt that  _that_  was his title all of a sudden.

"Man and dog, why?" the Doctor had ignored everything and kept a fixated look on Rory.

"Oh, my God, it's him..." Rory blinked, finally settling in.

"Just answer his question, please," Amy said.

"It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor."

Avalon teasingly laughed, "Yeah, that's him. Is that the only pair of clothes you own?" she asked the Doctor.

"Shush up," he snapped, covering her mouth. Avalon made a gesture with both hands.

"But he was a story. He was a game!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ouch!" the Doctor jumped to the side, rubbing his palm while he stared in shock at Avalon, "Did you just  _bite_  me?"

"I can do more than that but I don't know you like that yet," she winked, making him immediately blush.

The fact she had even added the 'yet' in the end made it even more blush-worthy. He shook his head, though, when he remembered the planet was literally twenty minutes away from blowing up. "Man and dog," he sighed and looked at Rory, trying to ignore the pounding pain in his palm, "Why?"

"Because he can't be there. Because he's…" Rory began but the Doctor had finished with him in unison, "...in a hospital, in a coma."

"Yeah," Rory nodded.

"Okay that's weird," Avalon remarked.

"Lena is a witness," Rory lightly snapped, "She was with me when they started talking."

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see? Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind," the Doctor explained.

The multiform snapped and snarled at the group, "Prisoner Zero," the Doctor turned to face it.

"That stupid thing that gave my sister nightmares?" Avalon's eyes narrowed as she stepped forwards, "She couldn't sleep for a week after that sleep over. Oh, I'm gonna kill it..."

"No you're not," the Doctor grabbed her arm and restrained her.

An electrical buzz emerged from above and they looked up to see a spaceship flying over them, the same eye swiveling back and forth.

"What the hell is that?" Avalon frowned.

The Doctor slipped his screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it up, "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver," he flicked it on and caused chaos to shatter the village, "I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" Prisoner Zero barked as the Doctor lowered the screwdriver and aimed it at the phone box ahead which exploded. However, the screwdriver sparked and fuzzled which made the Doctor drop it to the ground, "No, no, no, don't do that!" and then the ship flew away.

"It's going," Avalon pointed.

"No, come back, he's here! Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is..."

But Prisoner Zero turned into mist and escaped down the drain.

"Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain!" Amy exclaimed.

"Well, of course it did," the Doctor sighed.

"So what do we do now?" Avalon questioned.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think!"

He ran up to the drain and was followed by the trio, "So that thing -  _that_  hid in my house for 12 years?" Amy asked as she looked down at the drain.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop."

"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?"

"They're looking for him, but followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos I am."

"And boy are you late," Avalon shook her head, "I was a bit curious myself to see what was inside that box," she admitted.

"Now, sport, give me your phone," the Doctor turned to Rory.

"How can he be real? He was never real," Rory was still in denial but the Doctor didn't care.

"Phone, now, give me!"

Rory handed the phone to the Doctor just to get him to stop shouting. "He was just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him," he said to Amy.

"That was a funny time," Avalon said, "I have lots of pictures if you're interested."

"I told you to delete them!" Rory frowned.

"I have many copies..."

"Avalon!"

The Doctor was looking through the pictures on Rory's phone, "These are all coma patients?"

"Yeah."

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?"

"The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop!" the Doctor pointed at Amy who took with wide eyes. "Your friend, what was his name? Not him-" he nodded to Rory, "-the good-looking one."

"Oi, you're  _still_  rude," Avalon shook her head.

"Jeff," Amy corrected him, not even the slightest bit upset with the Doctor's behavior.

"Oh, thanks," Rory mock-glared at her.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop-"

"Why are you holding an inhaler?" Amy suddenly realized that Avalon had been holding an inhaler in her hand the whole time. But it looked more like she was trying to hide it under her fingers. "You don't have asthma."

"I know but I needed it so I bought it."

Rory's eyes flickered from the inhaler to Avalon with a mighty suspicious look. "Ava..."

"Rory..."

" _Avalon_ ," Rory tilted his head, the sharper look on his face making Avalon sigh.

"Fine, I took it. But in my defence-"

"No! No defences! We know those don't work! You don't steal, period!"

"But it was for a good cause-"

"Stealing is  _never_  for a good cause," the Doctor frowned, his voice dark.

"Oh shut up, you don't understand my life, got it?" Avalon pushed past him and started to run.

"Avalon!" Rory called.

"You two, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done," the Doctor instructed the remaining two, "I'll catch up to her."

~ 0 ~

"Avalon, wait!" the Doctor called after the ginger, "Avalon!"

"Leave me alone, stupid man!" she shouted.

"Oh," he let out a sound of annoyance as he turned her around, "Five minutes ago I was the fairy tale man. What happened to that?" A brief smile flickered on Avalon's face. "We have a world to save in less than twenty minutes and I need all the help I can get."

"Loved to help, but I can't," Avalon turned around to continue walking. The Doctor, momentarily surprised, reeled her back. "Doctor! I have to find my sister and my brother!"

"You have a brother?"

"Mhm. His name's Gavin. And he needs me because my Dad is working, alright? I gotta go-"

"N-n-n-no wait!" the Doctor brought her back again. "I'm sure he's fine, Mum's probably taking care of him-"

"My mum's dead," Avalon revealed in a quiet voice, all emotion lost all of a sudden.

The Doctor blinked, not having expected that one, "Oh...I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"It was a couple years back," she rubbed away a small tear on the side of left eye.

"Sorry," the Doctor couldn't really figure out what else to say.

"Yeah," she heaved a sigh, "It was hard," she walked around him.

He raised an eyebrow, confused by her... _lack_ of emotion? This was her mother they were talking about. He didn't want for her to cry but the way she acted was a bit cold and blank, like it hadn't affected her. He trailed after her, "Avalon? Where are you going?"

"Well, the police is sort of after me and you need a laptop, right?" Avalon looked back, her arms crossed, "C'mon, then."

"And your brother?"

"Well, let's be honest, he'll probably be more scared if the cops come by my house instead. So, c'mon!"

~ 0 ~

Jeff was laying on his bed using his laptop when the Doctor and Avalon burst inside the room, "Hello. Laptop, give me!" the Doctor wiggled his hands as he walked up to Jeff.

"Sorry about that, he's still rude," Avalon shook her head.

"And you're apparently a thief," the Doctor shot back, not too sure if he was playing or really upset that the little girl who was in love with fairy tales...grew up to be a  _thief_?

"No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!" Jeff was refusing to give up his laptop.

"It's fine, give it here," the Doctor finally snatched the laptop and sat at the foot of the bed. "Blimey! Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

"We've talked about this, Jeff," Avalon sighed and sat down beside the Doctor.

Jeff's grandmother entered the room, surprised to find the strange man again with her grandson, and now with Avalon, "What's going on here?"

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call," the Doctor replied casually as he typed, "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need?  _Me_."

Avalon's lips curled into an amused smile. "Well, now I know."

"Know what?" the Doctor stopped for a second to look at her.

"Oh that you don't know the definition of 'modesty'."

Frowning, the Doctor returned to the computer. "Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Ooh, I like Patrick Moore," Jeff's grandmother smiled.

"I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil."

"You can't just hack in on a call like that," Avalon told the Doctor, "Even I don't do that."

"Cos then you're Dad would really blow his head off," Jeff muttered, Avalon shooting him a death glare.

"You shouldn't be doing any of that stuff," the Doctor mumbled. He held up his psychic paper to the webcam as the experts appeared on the laptop screen.

"Who are you? This is a secure call. What are you doing?" one of the men on the screen inquired.

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this." The Doctor cracked his fingers and began typing anew, this time quicker to match his speedy ramble. "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favorite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens," the Doctor raised his hands, the biggest smirk possible sitting on his face. "Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention."

Avalon blinked, fascinated to see the Doctor in a whole new light. It was one thing learning and reading on him, but it was a completely different thing to see him in action. She  _loved_  seeing it in real life.

~ 0 ~

"Sir, what are you doing?" an expert asked the Doctor while he typed away on Rory's cellphone. Much time had passed and apparently they were nearing the solution.

"I'm writing a computer virus," the Doctor responded. "Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?" Patrick Moore asked, even trying to peer around his screen.

"Patrick, behave!"

 **"** What does this virus do?" another expert asked.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."

Avalon sighed dramatically when Jeff failed to speak up. "He means you, you idiot."

"What?"

The Doctor closed the laptop midway and glanced at Jeff. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?"

"It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go!" the Doctor jumped off the bed and pulled Avalon with him.

"What? I'm coming?" Avalon looked around with surprise, "I can't leave! The police is looking for me!"

"Oh trust me, they'll be a bit too busy trying to figure out what the hell is going on," the Doctor shrugged and pulled her towards the door, "Oh and Jeff, delete your internet history."

"As if," Avalon snorted as they came outside. The Doctor zoomed past her into the street to start looking for some way to get to the hospital. When Avalon caught up, all she found was the Time Lord cluelessly turning one way and another. "Okay, what are you doing?"

"Looking for a car, isn't it obvious?"

"Not when you look like that," Avalon shook her head. "Clearly, you've never hijacked anything, have you?"

The Doctor stopped and turned to her, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Oh, you don't even know."

Avalon matched his smirk for a second then ran down the street. "C'mon!"

"What, hold on, you're not going to steal something more are you?" the Doctor went after her.

~ 0 ~

Rory finished up talking to a nurse in the hospital and rejoined Amy who was on her phone, "Something's happened up there, we can't get through."

Amy redialed in frustration, "Yes, but what's happened?"

"I don't know. No-one knows. Phone him."

"I'm phoning him," she reminded and gasped when the line was finally picked up, "Doctor? We're at the hospital, but we can't get through."

"What did he say?" Rory impatiently waited.

"Look in the mirror," Amy turned to a mirror behind her and saw her reflection, "Ha-ha! Uniform!" she tied her hair up, "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor drove a firefighter truck while Avalon held the phone, sitting in the passenger seat, "Don't worry, you know how good I am at acquiring things," she smirked.

"We're going to need to talk about that," the Doctor pointed.

She rolled her eyes, "Drive, fairy-tale man."

~ 0 ~

Amy and Rory ran out of the hospital lift and saw the corridors ahead of them were a complete mess. There were gurneys and tables turned over with scrubs and utensils sprawled all over.

"What happened?" Amy asked a nearby woman.

"There was a man. A man with a dog. I think Dr. Ramsden's dead. And the nurses," the woman replied fearfully.

~ 0 ~

"The Doctor asks if you're in?" Avalon held the phone and spoke to Amy again.

"Yep. But so's Prisoner Zero."

"You need to get out of there!" the Doctor called from his seat.

~ 0 ~

Rory turned to the woman and...noticed that the woman's voice was now coming out of one of the little girls she held hands with, "He was so angry. He kept shouting. And that dog, the size of that dog, I swear it was rabid.," Amy and Rory started backing away, "And he just went mad, attacking everyone. Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies'..." the woman trailed off, "Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I? I'm always doing that. So many mouths..." the woman opened her mouth to reveal the sharp teeth, the little girls holding her hands following in suit.

~ 0 ~

"Amy? Amy, what's happening?" Avalon repeatedly asked, hearing odd voices from the other line.

"We're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in," Amy spoke, she and Rory backing away from the door of the ward that was shut with a broom through its handles.

"Which window are you at?" the Doctor called.

"How is that important?" Amy heard Avalon snap.

"Just tell me!"

"Uh, uh," Amy looked around, "First floor on the left, fourth from the end."

Prisoner Zero broke through the door, still disguised as the woman, "Oh, dear. Little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up. 12 years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return, but not this time, Amelia," she opened her mouth.

Amy's phone beeped and showed a message from the Doctor reading 'Duck!". Amy then heard the sirens nearing and pushed Rory down in time as a ladder broke through the window. The Doctor and Avalon climbed up the ladder and jumped inside the room.

"Right! Hello! Am I late? No, three minutes to go. So still time," the Doctor exclaimed.

"That's a first, you're on time," Avalon remarked.

"Time for what, Time Lord?" Prisoner Zero asked, smirking.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies," the Doctor ordered.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

"OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did. And I'd like a word with them," Avalon frowned, "It affected my sister, speaking of..." she turned back to Amy and Rory, "...I need to go and find her."

"Leave her, if she's going to Amy's house that'll probably be safer than here," Rory reminded.

"She's right," the Doctor agreed, his gaze locked on prisoner zero, "Now about those cracks..."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you?" Prisoner Zero took the voice of the little girls, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know! The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

A clicking sound distracted the Doctor from actually paying attention, he looked at the wall and smiled, "And we're off! Look at that. Look at that! Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is  _zero_. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" he took his mobile from the pocket, "The source, by the way, is right here," a bright light shined through the windows, "Oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me," Prisoner Zero said, undisturbed.

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favorite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of?" the Doctor smugly waved Rory's cellphone. "Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdriver - two minutes to spare," the Doctor held out his arms to the trio behind him, "Who da man?"

"Do yourself a favor and  _never_  say that again," Avalon replied, her hand in her hair as she looked away.

"Fine," the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Then I shall take a new form," Prisoner Zero spoke, making the Doctor turn back.

"Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had  _years_..."

Amy fell to the floor suddenly, Rory quickly dropping by her side. The Doctor and Avalon turned at the sound of the thud and hurried over.

"What's happened?" Avalon frantically asked.

The Doctor put his hands on Amy's face, "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

Rory was looking behind them to Prisoner Zero, "Doctor?"

Avalon followed his gaze back, "Oh...well that's interesting."

The Doctor looked back also and frowned, "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

"What?" Avalon's head snapped to him, "That's  _you_ , moron!"

"Me?" the Doctor looked down at himself. "Is that what I look like?"

"You mean you don't know?" she raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding me right?" but by the face the Doctor made she knew he wasn't, "Stupid!"

"I've had a busy day thank you very much," he stood up and spoke to Prisoner Zero, "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside," Amelia Pond moved around the fake Doctor, "Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return. What a disappointment you've been."

"No, she's dreaming about me cos she can hear me," he dropped back to Amy's side, "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw."

A bright light started taking over again, "No... no... No!" prisoner Zero cried as it started transforming back to its regular form.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself," the Doctor looked up at it, smirking.

_Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained._

"Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall," Prisoner Zero said as it disappeared.

The Doctor ran for the window and dialed on Rory's cellphone.

"The sun - it's back to normal, right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over," Rory said, trying to get some confirmation from anyone but the Doctor kept dialing and so was Avalon now on her phone. He felt Amy stir in his arms and looked down, "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"He did it. The Doctor did it," Rory replied.

"No, I didn't," the Doctor called back.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked, then looked at Avalon, "What are  _you_ doing too?" he asked her.

"Calling Lena," she stood up and moved away from them.

"And I'm tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance," the Doctor explained.

"About what?" Rory dreaded to ask.

"The bill," the Doctor placed the phone over his ear and spoke, "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What...? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" he tossed the gone back to Rory, "OK. Now I've done it," he headed out of the war.

"Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?" Rory called after them, Amy following the Doctor out.

"Rory, hush, I'm on the phone," Avalon also walked out.

~ 0 ~

"Avalon I don't know what's going on but there was this big spaceship with a large eye like the one on Amy's wall and I'm scared and I don't know-"

"Lena, Lena, Lena, calm down! It'll be okay!" Avalon hushed her twin sister down through the phone while following the Doctor down a corridor in the hospital, "Rory said you were headed for Amy's place, yeah?"

"Mhm," Lena sniffled.

"Okay, then stay there, it's completely safe now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay..."

Avalon hung up and glared at the Doctor ahead of her, "You better have a good reason for bringing back that spaceship, stupid man! Lena is scared out of her wits and she's all alone!"

"She'll be less afraid when she finds out that the spaceship will never return," he countered calmly.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"The roof. No, hang on," the Doctor stopped and entered a new room, a changing room.

"What's in here?" Avalon asked, confused.

"Nothing you'll be stealing, got it?"

"You're not gonna let it go are you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You don't steal!"

"Well I have and I don't care!"

"That is  _not_  the little girl I met five minutes ago!"

"Twelve years happened and she's had to grow up, alright!?" she shouted, leaving an air of silence fall over them.

The Doctor admitted that was a true statement, but it didn't mean he was going to let it go so easily. Right now he would have to focus on the threatening aliens up in the sky, but soon as he was done he was going to go back with Avalon. "Fine," he said and turned for the racks of clothes.

"What are we doing here?" Rory questioned.

"I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!" the Doctor sifted through the racks, throwing things he didn't like to the side.

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens," Rory insisted on reminding everyone of that pending, stupid action while the Doctor took off his tattered clothes, "Deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off... Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," the Doctor said, unperturbed with an audience.

"Are you stealing clothes now? And you're on about it with  _me_?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, turning around as Rory already had, "I didn't take you for being a hypocrite, you know."

"Oi, most of these people are  _dead_. Now, that's not something I like but I'm in need of new clothes so button it up, red!"

Avalon rolled her eyes and looked at Amy, "Excuse you," Amy had remained looking at the Doctor, "You have a boyfriend," and she turned Amy around.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was now wearing a pink and white, buttoned-up, long-sleeved, plaid shirt with braces and several ties draped around his neck. He walked out onto the roof with Rory, Avalon and Amy standing a bit back.

"So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving," Amy reminded.

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better. Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now," he called out and the eye from the spaceship disconnected and scanned him.

"You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it," the Doctor said, casually looking at a tie then holding it out, "I don't know. What do you think?"

"Is this world important?"

"Important? What's that mean, important?" he tossed a tie back and Rory caught it, "6 billion people live here - is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" he threw another tie which landed on Avalon's shoulder, making her sigh in annoyance, "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Atraxi projected a hologram of the Earth with scenes of its history, "No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

"No."

"OK. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here," as the Doctor spoke, a projection showed his various enemies, "Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?" the projection started playing out his entire incarnations beginning with his first all the way to his current, "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically... run!"

"Wow," Avalon breathed in fascination. As the ship departed, Avalon sighed of relief, "And that's my cue to get the hell out of here," she pulled out her inhaler and dashed out.

Amy and Rory cheered behind the Doctor, both laughing and hugging. The Doctor felt something nearly burn in his pocket and reached inside to pull out the TARDIS key that glowed.

"Is that it? Is that them gone for good? Who were they?" Amy's laughter faded as she saw that the Doctor wasn't there anymore.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran into Amy's back garden up to the TARDIS, seeing the box had taken a new shade of blue, "OK! What have you got for me this time?" he opened the door and stepped inside, completely amazed at the new interior, " Look at you! Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!"

The interior was now sporting bright shades of oranges with its coral design on the walls. The console stood on a raised, glass platform with steps leading up to it, even creating a lower level underneath it. There remained a second floor with stairs going up to more corridors.

The Doctor ran up to the console and flicked on the screen, pretty much turning everything on just to see how it would work. However, the screen directed itself with something quite interesting that made the Doctor stop...

~ 0 ~

"You have to let go! Please! She needs help!" Avalon was kicking and screaming as a group of policemen and women were dragging her away.

"Let her go," the grown up Lena Reynolds cried after them, slowing down when she felt her air begin to struggle.

"Refusing arrest will be added to your charges," one of the policemen warned Avalon.

"I don't care, you blundering idiot! My sister needs me!" Avalon actually tried biting them just to see if she could get free for a moment.

"What's going on!?" the Doctor ran out of Amy's garden into the sidewalk, in the middle of Avalon being taken away and Lena on his other side, struggling to stay on her feet.

"Doctor, please! Help her!" Avalon managed to reach inside her pocket and tried tossing the inhaler, "It's for her, please help her!"

"Avalon..." Lena dropped to her knees, her hand on her chest as she breathed heavier and faster.

"Say you'll help her, promise you'll help her! Promise me!" Avalon shouted, still resisting the police officers.

The Doctor nodded, "I promise," he reached for the inhaler and looked at Avalon. She'd stolen for Lena...she'd stolen for her sister. That was her good reason...

Avalon stopped struggling when she saw him move to Lena's side.

"Avalon Reynolds, you are under arrest," a police officer hand cuffed her behind her back. But Avalon didn't care, she watched her sister be cared for her. That was all she needed to go in peace.

"Here, take this," the Doctor handed the inhaler to Lena, helping her sit up a little.

Lena blinked when she looked at the man beside her, "You're...you're him..." she smiled, taking the inhaler from his hands, "...you're the fairytale man."

The Doctor nodded and encouraged her to use the inhaler. He could tell her voice had somewhat settled since he'd last seen her. It didn't sound scratchy but it still sounded a bit fragile. He looked to where Avalon had been and saw she and the police officers were gone. He looked back to Lena, "C'mon, you should have something to drink."

"Oh, but...my sister..." Lena took his hand and used it for support as she stood up, "...I can't leave her. My dad will be fuming when he finds out she's in jail again."

" _Again_?"

Lena nodded, "We're no longer little girls, fairy tale man. Avalon's changed...and it's my fault."

The Doctor looked at her curiously, "How so?"

Lena opened her mouth to respond when she collapsed, falling forwards. He caught her and scooped her into his arms, deciding to bring her into the TARDIS for a good check up.

~ 0 ~

Lena found herself in a white room she'd never seen before. She laid on a bed and turned her head to see the Doctor working on a machine, "What's going on?" her voice trembled, "Fairy tale man, what is this?"

"Don't be afraid," he quickly hurried to her side, "I only gave you a bit of medicine to help with that asthma and then I sort of ran tests on you."

"I'm sick, there's your result," she sat up and looked around.

"I think you're forgetting the part where it said you're not naturally human."

Lena looked at him with surprise, "How-how did you-"

"I'm an alien, Lena. I sort of have the machines to figure it out with. You're human alright," he took a seat beside her, "But...not like the rest of the humans on this planet," he smiled softly, "You're from New Earth."

"Yeah..."

"You traveled back in time," the Doctor said, quite impressed with the fact, "How come?"

Lena shrugged, "Don't know. Mum and Dad used to say they preferred an earth like this. A calm environment to raise children in."

"I like this earth too. Though I'm still a bit intrigued by your family."

"How come?"

"Cos of your illness. See, the New Earth humans don't have the type of immune system you have, and I assume your family has."

"We're from an evolved group of humans. My parents said that their ancestors arose from a group in a hospital, can you believe that?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, intrigued yet confused, "A hospital?"

"Yeah, it really was a fantasy story. Avalon loved it cos there was a hero..." Lena gave him a significant look, hoping he would understand that this was the origin point of her love for fairy tales, "...who cured them all."

The Doctor's eyed widened, "Oh...oh wow...that's a turn of events. Never thought what could happen then they'd start to reproduce." He ran a hand through his hair and began to smile. "And...and so that's why your sister knew me?"

"She loves that story," Lena sheepishly shared.

"Okay, so then...this is why your immune system has..."

"The humans you rescued evolved with the cures you implanted in their bodies until one day, they just walked with a little bit of a cure for every disease. We're not supposed to be sick," Lena explained, "But I was born with a mutation in my genes that makes my system attack itself and weaken my state."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor took her hand, "Believe me, I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault, I just got what I got. I'm okay with it," Lena then sighed, "But my family..." she sighed again, "... _Avalon_. Doctor, please, just like you helped me, help her."

"What can I do?"

"Can't you get her out of jail or something? She can't go there anymore, not because of me. Help her please."

The Doctor nodded, "I'll see what I can do," he stood up, "But I want you to stay here and rest until I get back."

She nodded and let him go on his way.

~ 0 ~

Avalon was boredly sitting on the wooden bench in her cell, resting against the wall when an officer walked up and started unlocking it, "You're free to go," he said and opened up the cell.

Avalon stood up, confused, "What?"

"You're free to go now c'mon."

"How is that possible?" she walked out nonetheless. "No one's paid the fine yet."

"There was a request from her highness."

"The Queen wanted me free?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, not an ounce of belief in her.

"Apparently so, now do yourself a favor and get out of here, Reynolds."

Avalon sighed, "Yeah, we'll see."

She walked out of the cell corridors and into the front office to gather up her belongings. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could have sworn she saw someone watching her. She spun around, only barely catching the glimpse of a man with brown hair. She raised an eyebrow and took several steps after them, but she saw no one.

"Reynolds," one of the officers behind the desk called and she whipped her head back. He slid her purse back to her. "Stay out of trouble, will you?"

"Like I told Joshua in the cells, we'll see," Avalon briefly smiled and took her bag off the counter. She turned around and started walking out, never catching the Doctor hidden on the side.

"Avalon Reynolds..." he gave a small shake of his head, "...what happened?"


	2. The Beast Below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena Reynolds and Amy Pond take their first trip with the Doctor, but Lena comes to a conclusion about herself that will affect the dynamic of inhabitants of the TARDIS.

Lena Reynolds walked around the TARDIS console with an awed face expression, her arms wrapped around herself as she studied the moving rota on the column, at least that's what the Doctor had told her it was called. She'd probably asked a million questions and irritated the man but he didn't show any sign of it. She felt like all this was a fairy tale and she would simply wake up in a couple minutes. There was a blue box that was far bigger on the inside with intricate designs and was owned by a mysterious man who seemed around her age and yet was (apparently) much,  _much_  older than he appeared to be. Additionally, the man was a time traveler with no name, only a title: the Doctor. Yes, this was a fairy tale...and it wasn't hers to live.

Lena felt like this should be  _Avalon's_  place, not hers. If anyone deserved to be here it was Avalon. Their younger brother was still too young to actually care what was going on with his sisters. For him it was all about his skate board and the passing, pretty girls. Her father was far too deep in his job to take notice of how his children, specifically his daughters, were. It was poor Avalon that took the weight of the entire household. Lena was never allowed to do any of the work, restricted by Avalon and her father. She was sick and by that logic (apparently) she was unfit to do any of the chores because it would harm her. So, Avalon was left to do the work while Lena could only simply watch. Lena felt awful about that. Now, she was getting this opportunity to travel among the stars with one of their best friends, Amy, while Avalon remained at home...thinking her sister was probably dead.

Because apparently, the Doctor had made the mistake of coming for Amy - and also intending on Avalon - two years after the Atraxi attack. There had been two whole years where Lena Reynolds was missing in Leadworth. Amy was originally shocked to find that Lena had been with the Doctor this whole time, and even more when she was told it had only been about an hour inside the TARDIS. Amy explained to the Doctor and Lena how the Reynolds had been distraught over the disappearance of Lena, but no one more than Avalon. Still, she also admitted that little by little, as the case lost its hype with the news, the Reynolds were forced to move on with their lives. Amy even revealed that Avalon had started a serious relationship with some man in Rory's hospital. Lena felt incredibly happy to know that Avalon was finally doing something for herself. It was for that reason that Lena asked for the Doctor a chance to stay in the TARDIS a little longer with the hopes that more time would allow for Avalon to build herself a life.

The soft hum coming from the rotor pulled Lena from her thoughts. She reached for the rotor and gave it a light pat. "I hope you don't mind some new visitors," she whispered, her eyes drifting towards the open doors where the Doctor and Amy were at. Well, the Doctor was actually  _in_  the TARDIS. Amy was hanging out in outer space with the Doctor holding onto her ankle.

"Come on, Pond," the Doctor pulled her back inside the box, " _Now_ do you believe me?"

"OK, your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! Whoo!" the ginger cheered, "Lena, sure you don't want to try that?" she looked over to the brunette.

"No thank you, don't want to accidentally fly away," Lena replied, eyes wide in alarm.

The Doctor threw her a mock glare, "Oi, I wouldn't let that happen."

"Yeah but with my luck you'd sneeze or something," she shrugged and joined them at the doorway, simply leaning forwards and peering up, "But my that is marvelous."

"What are we breathing?" Amy suddenly asked, wondering how the hell she hadn't exploded or something from the time she spent floating outside the box.

"I've extended the air shell - we're fine," the Doctor replied before seeing something below them. He squatted down to get a closer look, "Now, that's interesting," they seemed to be flying over a spaceship, and a huge one, "29th Century. Solar flares roast the earth..." he started heading back to the console.

"Didn't know that..." Lena blinked as she went after him.

He smiled, "And people survive," he added. "Actually, the entire human race packs its bags," he worked some of the controls, "...and moves out till the weather improves. Whole nations..."

"Doctor?" Amy called, Lena feeling as if the call was just a bit in the  _distance_?

"..migrating to the stars," the Doctor finished without noticing he was short one ginger.

"Doctor?"

"Isn't that amazing?" he looked up to find Lena peering back out the door with no Amy Pond to be seen. He shook his head and walked to the doorway to find Amy floating, or  _clinging_ , to the roof of the TARDIS, "Well, come on. I've found us a spaceship."

"You mean we're actually going to be stepping onto that thing?" Lena asked, feeling a bit uneasy as she watched the passing spaceship.

"Scared?" he teased.

"Frankly, yes."

He stopped his tease. No one had ever really spoken so literally like that. Even Donna when she'd been to her first alien planet was far more excited than Lena showed to be right now. Frankly, most of his companions seemed to be excited to step on a new land. He wondered if bringing Lena was going to be a mistake. The girl seemed very kind but she also seemed very timid. But what worried him the most was that pesky illness that wouldn't leave her alone. If something happened to her it'd be over his head and that would add one more to the list of the dead because of him.

"Oh, don't be a scary cat, Lena," Amy called from above, making Lena look up, "What would Avalon say if she was here?

"Um...go rest?"

Amy rolled her eyes, "Okay fine, bad example. What would Mels say if she was here?"

"Quit being a baby and go for it," Lena recited, missing the amused smile the Doctor had for that one.

"Exactly," Amy nodded, "So...quit being a baby and go for it."

"That's not very nice," Lena shook her head.

"You're in outerspace with the chance anyone would die for and you don't want to step out? C'mon, Lena. Get some bravery and go for it!"

"I can't...Avalon has it all."

"You can't steal that, I'm afraid," the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder, "Why not just use Avalon as an example instead?" he brought Amy back into the TARDIS and returned to the console. There, he pulled up the spaceship on the monitor for them to see. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland - all of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship - that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and...shopping. Searching the stars for a new home."

"Can we go out and see?" Amy asked, glancing at Lena to see if she was still on board with the idea.

"Course we can but first, there's a thing," the Doctor turned to them.

"A thing?"

"An important thing. In fact, thing one," the Doctor looked through a magnifying glass, "We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets. Ooh! That's interesting," he leaned forwards at the monitor to see a little girl, Mandy, sitting alone on a bench as she cried.

"Oh, that's sad," Lena frowned, "Where's the girl's mother?" Lena could not help connecting nearly every child she saw back to its mother. She supposed it was the consequence of losing her own mother at a young age. Even after years she still missed her mother and really needed her.

"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah? Cos if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it - they've got to keep filming and let it die," Amy was saying as she watched Mandy, Lena moving closer as well, "That's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard - being all, like, detached and cold?"

Both women blinked when they saw the Doctor appearing onscreen with Mandy.

"Doctor?" Lena tilted her head, "Hm, that can't be right..."

But the Doctor waved to the women from the screen, letting them know it was indeed him.

~ 0 ~

Amy stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around the new city with awe. After a moment, she noticed she was standing alone. Lena was clinging onto the TARDIS doorway hinge fearfully.

"Lena, come on out," Amy instructed lightly.

"I don't know..." Lena mumbled.

"Yes, you do. You wanted to get away from your family, yeah? What better escape than this one?"

"I...I need Avalon..." Lena moved back inside. She wanted to let Avalon live her own life and yet she realized that she  _needed_  Avalon. She was  _that_  useless and that clingy that she couldn't even last a day without her sister. As she looked around and saw more and more people, the need to have Avalon tell her to go back inside or take her somewhere calm or just have Avalon hugging her grew more and more.

"Lena, you alright?" Amy cautiously stepped back for her. She knew how easily Lena could have one of her episodes, especially whenever her sister was missing or...the first time Lena would step out onto an actual spaceship.

"Everything alright?" the Doctor rejoined them, noticing it had taken far too long for them catch up.

"It's Lena," Amy pointed to the fearful brunette that remained stuck inside the TARDIS with her arms around herself, "I think she's scared."

"Lena, why don't you come out? I promise it'll be fun," the Doctor walked towards the box, stopping right outside the doorway.

"I need my sister," Lena mumbled, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I'm stupid, I know I am but...Avalon usually tells me when to do stuff and she's rather good at it...she's not here right now and what if I need her? I think I need her, Doctor..."

"Okay," the Doctor stepped inside, "You wanted to leave your family for a moment, right?" she nodded, "Think of the reason why you wanted to go. You don't have to tell me, just think. Good or bad, you wanted to come, so come out," he held a hand out for her, "If you're afraid then you can stop cos I promise I won't leave your side. I'll protect you."

"Like...like an older brother?"

He nodded, "Yes, I can be an older brother...a  _cool_  one," he was quick to clarify, making her smile a little, "So c'mon, have a little faith in your bro and come out."

"Please don't ever say that again," Amy called from behind, shaking her head with disapproval.

He rolled his eyes, "Not now, Pond. Shush," Lena was still debating whether or not to come out and really needed to be convinced before she fell ill again, more than she already was, "Lena?"

"I'm gonna trust you Doctor," Lena took his hand, "I only have an older twin sister of two minutes and 14 year old brother so...I've never had an older brother, are you going to be a good one?"

"I already told you, the coolest," the Doctor assured, slowly leading her out, carefully letting her step onto the ground, "Now, what do you think?"

Lena sucked in a breath as she observed the place for real this time. There was an arched glass ceiling that allowed one to see the stars. There was a full-blown market ahead of them with stalls and booths which reminded Lena more of those flea markets Avalon sometimes took her to.

"This is the future..." Lena declared, "...wow...Lena Reynolds, in the future. Actually, properly in the future."

She had always asked her father if they would once see the future Earth, New Earth, specifically, but her father would never say yes. The only times they visited New Earth was when she had her usual hospital trips or when they needed something only the future had. There was a vortex manipulator hidden somewhere in their house for such occasion. It was hidden because of Avalon and her mischievous actions. Lena sometimes wondered if she could actually take the manipulator and go out and see the New Earth city...

Perhaps being with the Doctor wouldn't be so bad if things were like this. The only thing she regretted was that Avalon wasn't there to see it with her, together like always.

"Lena is right," Amy agreed as they walked, "We're in the future. Like hundreds...of years in the future," she blinked at a sudden realization, "I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one," the Doctor gave her a scolding look and nodded discreetly to Lena who was distracted with the passing decorations, "I just got her to step out and you're talking about death?"

"Oops," Amy mined her lips shut.

"Anyways, never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"

"Why would it be wrong?" Lena looked at him in confusion, "It's peaceful."

"Use your eyes, the both of you," he instructed, "Notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it...the bicycles?" Amy pointed to a rickshaw, "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles. "

"Says the girl in the nightie."

Amy gasped and looked down at herself with realization, "Oh, my God! I'm in my nightie!" she looked up with embarrassment. She hadn't been like Lena who'd been taken out of a street with her day clothes on. No, she'd been taken in the night, in the middle of the night.

"Now, come on, look around you. Actually look," the Doctor insisted to both women, "Lena?"

"Um...I don't know," she shrugged, "Everything looks fine, well, except for the little girl that was crying. Did you find out what was wrong with her?"

He smiled, "Not exactly, you're a bit ahead of me."

"What is then?"

"Life on a giant starship, back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me," he let go of Lena and ran over to a nearby table, taking a glass of water from one of the people sitting there and set it on the floor while he looked at it intently. After a second or two he picked up the glass and set it back on the table, "Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish," he tapped the side of his nose and rejoined the women, "Where was I?"

"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy asked.

"Don't know. I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state - do you see it yet?"

"Where?"

The Doctor snapped and pointed behind them, "There."

They turned to see Mandy on the bench, still crying. Everyone who walked by her simply ignored her. The trio headed towards them, unaware of a man in a hood wearing an amulet watching them behind.

The trio came to a bench just across Mandy, and while they didn't directly go up to her, they discussed the theories on what could be her problem. In the end, however, Amy began to wonder if they were making a big deal out of nothing.

"One little girl crying. So?" she had to ask finally.

"Crying silently," the Doctor corrected, "I mean, children cry cos they want attention, cos they're hurt or afraid. When they cry silently, it's cos they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

"Are you a parent?" Lena looked over and studied him, seeing how her question startled him. The fact he didn't even answer the question alerted her that it was a sensitive topic she probably shouldn't ask about anymore.

"Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means...they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows - whatever they're afraid of - it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state.".

Unnoticed by the group, Mandy stood up from her bench as a lift bell rang and walked away, unbeknownst to  _her_  that a figure in a nearby booth was watching her.

"Where'd she go?" Amy suddenly noticed the missing girl a minute later.

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh," the Doctor reached into his pocket, "This fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her," he handed Amy the ID wallet, "Took me four goes. Ask her about those things - the smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just things," Lena remarked as she looked at one of the booths, "...with creepy smiles..." she leaned away as if she was actually upfront with one of them.

"They're clean. Everything else here is battered and filthy - look at this place. But no-one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them," the Doctor explained, "Ask Mandy, "Why are people scared of the things in the booths?"

"No. Hang on - what do we do?" Amy whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!"

The Doctor stood up with the two women following up, "It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond and Lena Reynolds choose? Ha-ha, gotcha!" he checked his watch for the time, "Meet me back here in half an hour."

"What are you going to do?" Amy asked.

"What I always do. Stay out of trouble. Badly," he leaped over the bench and started walking away.

"Hey wait," Lena called as she went around the bench, the Doctor turning around at the call, "You promised you weren't leaving my side, remember?" she crossed her arms.

"Well, you're going with Amy," he pointed to the ginger behind.

"You  _promised_ ," Lena gave him a hard look, "And since you promised to be back in five minutes and didn't, don't you think you should keep this new one you made to me?"

The Doctor nodded and held a hand out for her. "Come along, then, Lena."

Lena beamed and rushed over then glanced at Amy, "You don't mind Amy?"

"Nah, I'll be fine...I guess," Amy shrugged. She supposed it was better for Lena to go with a doctor than a regular person. She wouldn't have the first clue about first aid or anything else medical in case Lena had a relapse. Oh yes, she on her own and Lena with the Doctor, best option.

"Thanks Amy," Lena smiled. Amy nodded and the trio parted ways, "So Doctor, is this how your trips go?"

"How do you mean?" he looked down at her.

'You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"

"Yes," he nodded but she scoffed, confusing him.

"Somehow...I don't think that's the case," Lena studied him for a moment. "Least, that's not what Avalon says."

"You know, for someone who wanted to leave their sister and family...you sure seem to bring up Avalon a lot," the Doctor casually remarked, eyeing the brunette as she grew silent for a minute, "Are you going to eventually tell me why you wanted to leave your family?"

"Um...perhaps..." was all Lena said on that matter.

~ 0 ~

Despite Lena's edginess to go snooping around, because she decreed to the Doctor it was the utmost incorrect thing to do on a foreign spaceship, the Doctor brought her all the way down to the maintenance area of the spaceship.

"But are you sure we won't get caught?" she asked as she climbed down the last step of the ladder in a corridor. She missed the Doctor's face at her question and when she finally looked at him he was already investigating. He put his hands on the wall and leaned an ear to listen, just like he had done with Amy's bedroom crack all those years ago. "What are we doing, exactly?"

"Can't be," the Doctor whispered to himself and stepped back. Lena then saw that familiar whirring device being pulled from the inside of his tweed jacket.

"What is that?" she inched closer out of curiosity.

"Sonic screwdriver," he smiled briefly at her. "Now, sh! For a moment!"

Lena made a face but kept quiet. She turned away intending on helping in whatever way she could. Her eyes blinked at the sight of a lonesome glass of water just randomly placed on the floor. "Oh..." she reached back for the Doctor's arm and tugged on it. "Look, just like what you did earlier!"

At the sight of the glass, the Doctor put away the sonic and rushed up to it. Lena scurried after him. The Doctor dropped to his knees to get a better study of the glass, and missed a stranger woman in a cloak.

Lena did not.

"Who's she!?" she cried and made the Doctor whip his head up.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water," the woman whispered to them. "Not many people see it. But you do, don't you, Doctor?"

Surprised at her knowledge, the Doctor got back on his feet to face the woman. "You know me?"

"Keep your voice down," the woman hissed. "They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass."

"Who says I see anything?" the Doctor played dumb.

"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

Lena would have figured the Doctor would've asked how the woman even knew he'd performed the trick, but instead he admitted the truth. "No engine vibration on deck. Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move."

Lena looked around and suddenly realized they were right. How could she not notice that!? She always was a bit slow on picking things up, which was why her younger brother could always pull one over her. Thankfully, Avalon was always at her side making sure that didn't happen so much. No one wanted to mess with Avalon, not even their brother! Lena inwardly sighed, hugging herself as she thought what Avalon could be doing at the moment. She truly missed her older twin sister.

The Doctor had opened up a power box on the wall as he spoke to the woman who had yet to give a name for herself, "It doesn't make sense. These power couplings, they're not connected. Look. Look - they're dummies, see?" he crossed the hall and tapped the wall, "And behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..."

"No engine at all."

"But it's working. This ship is travelling though space. I saw it," the Doctor insisted.

"The impossible truth, Doctor. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."

"How?"

"I don't know. There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe," the woman handed him a device, "This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!" she began walking away.

"Who are you? How do I find you again?"

She turned to face him and whispered once more, "I am Liz 10. And I will find you."

A crashing sound made Lena and the Doctor turn around, and when the Doctor looked back to the woman he found she was gone.

~ 0 ~

Amy found herself in a small room, sitting on a lone chair, with four monitors in front of her as televisions or something of the style...and a Smile in a booth. Upon seeing her new surroundings, Amy was pretty glad Lena had gone off with the Doctor. If something happened to the girl on  _her_  watch...she was pretty sure Avalon would murder her.

"Welcome to voting cubicle 330C. Please leave this installation as you would wish to find it," the computer voice snapped Amy out of her thoughts. She stood up and looked around as the voice continued speaking, "The United Kingdom recognizes the right to know of all its citizens," Amy looked down to see three large buttons reading protest, record and forget, "A presentation concerning the history of Starship UK will begin shortly. Your identity is being verified on our electoral roll," Amy sat down as she saw her profile on screen, "Name - Amelia Jessica Pond. 'Age - 1,306."

Upon seeing her age, Amy gasped and laughed, "Shut up!"

"Marital status..."

Amy straightened up, actually curious to see the answer.

"Unknown."

Amy flopped back into her chair, a bit uneasy for some reason when it came to her "marriage". She knew she loved Rory, but...for some reason every time she thought of Rory she ended up thinking of the Doctor. Plus, sometimes she felt like even Rory wasn't so sure about their wedding. There were times when she would catch Rory giving glances to  _Avalon_. He would do that ever since they were kids and when Amy would ask him why he kept looking at Avalon, he would answer that it was nothing.

Amy watched the four screens as a video started playing, a presenter speaking as the images started, " _You are here because you want to know the truth about this starship, and I am talking to you because you're entitled to know. When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest...or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this. If just 1% of the population of this ship do likewise, the program will be discontinued, with consequences for you all. If you choose to accept the situation - and we hope that you will - then press the "forget" button. All the information I am about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amenities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here, then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people. May God have mercy on our souls."_

Amy's eyes watered up as the video continue to play and suddenly found herself pressing the Forget button. As she cleaned her face up, a video of her started playing, "This isn't a trick. You've got to find the Doctor and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate. Stop him. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"

The door finally opened up to reveal Mandy waiting on the other side. The Doctor and Lena appeared on either side of the doorway soon after, both wearing faces of concern.

"Amy? What have you done?" the Doctor asked and Amy immediately shut the video off. He quickly moved over to her place and started looking at the monitors.

"Amy, are you alright!?" Lena quickly ran over and hugged Amy, happy to see her friend was alive and well.

"I-I don't know, I don't..." Amy looked around in confusion, "I can't remember..."

The Doctor got on the chair Amy had sat in and used his sonic on the lamp above.

"Amy, it's alright, you're okay," Lena tried calming her friend down while the Doctor worked, "It's fine..."

"Yeah, your basic memory wipe job," the Doctor figured out and looked down, "Must have erased about 20 minutes after you pressed that button," he pointed at the three buttons on the table as he jumped down.

"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy frowned.

"Cos everyone does. Everyone chooses the "forget" button," Mandy spoke up, staying by the doorway.

"Did you?" Lena looked at the young girl.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years..."

"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned. Democracy in action," the Doctor turned to the monitors.

"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?"

"Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me."

"It played for  _me_ ," Amy remarked.

"The difference being the computer doesn't accept me as  _human_ ," the Doctor clarified, giving Lena a quick glance. He couldn't help to wonder whether or not the video would've played for Lena considering she was human but in the end an evolutionized one.

"Why not?" Amy asked as she and Lena joined him, "You look human."

"No, you look Time Lord. We came first."

"So there are other Time Lords?" Lena asked, recalling how the New Earth story of the Time Lord and a blonde only ever involved  _one_  Time Lord. Any other stories Avalon had managed to find out about the Doctor only ever involved him and some other human(s).

"No. There were, but there aren't... Just me now," the Doctor's voice went a bit distant all of a sudden. "Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, and you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Cos this is what I do - every time, every day, every second. This. Mandy, step back," he ordered and so was done, "Hold tight. We're bringing down the government," he pressed the Protest button and the door slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside.

The Smiler inside the booth turned its head to show its angry face. The Doctor pulled Amy and Lena into the corner of the room as the floor slides open.

"Say, "Wheee!"" he exclaimed but that was not what the two girls shouted as they fell down a chute.

They went splashing inside some new 'room' full of odd smelling water. The Doctor was the first to rise from the water and wasted no time in using the sonic to investigate their new location. "High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel."

"Where are we, Doctor?" Lena extended her arms and shook them in an effort to release some of the water being soaked up by her jacket.

"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally - puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say... Lancashire," the Doctor replied as he continued to observe their surroundings, "What's this, then - a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave,"

"It's a rubbish dump, and it's stinking!" Amy threw away a piece of rubbish over her shoulder.

"Yes, but only food refuse,' the Doctor sniffed himself, "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."

Lena bent down and felt the floor with a hand, "The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed."

"But feeding what, though?"

"It's sort of rubbery, feel it. Wet and slimy," Lena crinkled her nose and stood up.

The Doctor heard a distant moaning and quickly realized where they were, "Er... It's not a floor, it's a..." he put away his screwdriver, "So..."

"It's a what?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"The next word is kind of the scary word," he turned to face both women, really hoping this wouldn't terrorize Lena and affect her health, "Take a moment. Get yourselves in a calm place. Go "omm"."

"Omm," both women went, exchanging dreadful glances.

"It's a tongue..."

"A tongue?" Amy's eyes widened while Lena tilted her head as hoping she'd heard wrong.

"A tongue. A great big tongue!" the Doctor exclaimed then gave Lena a sharp look, "You okay?"

She hugged herself as she took observation of the place, "This is a mouth? This whole place is a  _mouth_?" he nodded, cautiously awaiting her true reaction, "Can we please get out of here please? This is quite scary..."

"We're in a mouth?!" Amy nearly shouted.

"Yes, yes, yes, but on the plus side, roomy," the Doctor said, "And Lena, don't worry, I'm on it," she gave her grateful nod to him. He took out his screwdriver again and started sonicing the place, "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey! if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach," and then he heard a grunting noise, "Though not right now."

"Doctor, how do we get out?" Lena trembled at the sound.

"OK, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is..." he saw the sharp teeth of a closed mouth, "Closed for business."

"We can try, though," Amy headed forwards.

"No! Stop, don't move!" The Doctor reached to stop her but it was too late as the mouth heaved in agitation, "Too late. It's started."

"What has?" Lena unconsciously moved closer to him and swallowed hard as she heard another of those groans.

"Swallow reflex..."

The three slipped and fell back into the refuse. Quickly, the Doctor used the sonic on the mouth's walls.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors."

"Chemo-what?"

"The eject button."

"How does a mouth have an  _eject_  button?"

"Think about it!"

"Doctor..." Lena nearly cried at the sight of the large wave of bile coming towards them.

"Right, then," he straightened his bow tie, "This isn't going to be big on dignity," he reached for Lena's hand for reassurance, "Big brother's got yah...geronimo!"

~ 0 ~

Amy and Lena slowly woke up to find themselves on the floor of a small corridor with a door ahead of them which the Doctor was currently checking over.

"There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick," the Doctor said with his back to them.

"Where are we?" Lena's voice cracked from so much screams she'd given earlier.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess."

"Oh, God, it stinks," Amy crinkled her nose as they stood up.

"That's not the pipe."

"Oh," Amy caught a whiff of herself and nearly gagged, "Whoo! Can we get out?"

"One door, one door switch, one condition," he moved to show a button on the door, "We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot."

"Why are they so keen on making is forget?" Lena asked, "Is the secret just that awful?"

"And I'm thinking it has something to do with that creature in the hart of the ship," the Doctor said as the lights returned to reveal two Smilers in booths beside him, "So what's it doing there?" he demanded from them and received the turn of their heads to show their angry faces, "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?" the faces continued to show their anger, "Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?"

The booths opened up and the two Smilers stood and walked towards the trio who nervously backed away.

"You're not doing a good job," Lena tiredly remarked.

"Yup, got that," the Doctor sighed.

The woman in the cloak appeared behind them and shot the Smilers, twirling her pistol before placing back on its holster. The Doctor turned around, relieved to see the mysterious woman, "Look who it is. You look a lot better without your mask."

"You must be Amy. Liz. Liz 10," the woman shook the ginger's hand.

"Hi," Amy greeted.

"Eurgh!" Liz 10 wiped her hand on her cloak, "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick," she remarked before moving to Lena, "I don't mean to sound rude, but...do you  _talk_?" she asked the timid brunette who silently nodded, "Right, you may want to start that soon," she shook Lena's hand, "You know Mandy, yeah?" she put an arm around the small girl, "She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" the Doctor curiously asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you," she threw her device to him, "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You look over 16 which would mean you'd have to already voted," Lena quietly spoke, "But you clearly chose to Forget."

"Oh, so you only talk to strike at me," Liz playfully smiled.

"Oh, no!" Lena shook her head, "I didn't mean to make you feel like..."

The Doctor set a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look that made her stop talking, "I don't think she meant that literally."

"Oh..." Lena made a face, embarrassed, "...right."

"You really need Avalon," Amy remarked, "Come to think of it, I've  _never_  seen you two apart except when Avalon's in jail...this is your chance to be  _you_."

Lena nodded silently, finding Amy's words to be so true. As far as she could remember, she and Avalon were never apart. Even in school they were always placed in the same class and right next to each other. They had the same friends (Amy, Rory, Mels, etc.) and were always out together. Lena came to realize that while Avalon  _did_ have a personality of her own, Lena didn't have anything except being the 'sick girl' or the 'sister of the ginger criminal'. Those weren't exactly the titles she wanted to be remembered by when she died. She supposed that this little adventure with Amy and the Doctor could also be for her to realize who she was, while Avalon got to live her own life. But she missed that crazy ginger  _so_  much...

"I never forgot, never voted," Liz was explaining to the others, "Not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot..." Liz paused as the Doctor pointed at her as if to argue then ran his hand through his wet hair instead, "I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."

"Your family?"

One of the Smilers started moving, alerting the group it was time to go.

"They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move," Liz ordered and led them out of the overspill into new corridors, "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And you certainly had the adoration of Liz I."

"Liz 10?" the Doctor asked, the connections being made inside his head.

A Smiler rose from a booth in the corridor, "Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" she turned and fired both her pistols at the Smilers, making them collapse on the floor, "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."

"Wow, I haven't seen skills like that since Avalon's," Amy passingly remarked, getting an agreeing hum from Lena.

"She always did beat everyone, even poor Rory," Lena shook her head, laughing lightly at the memories. At one point in their childhood, their parents had enrolled Lena in art classes and Avalon in karate as was her request. In doing so, she managed to convince Rory to join the same class. It was incredible how Avalon excelled in the class, how she took almost ever student down. Rory did not have the same luck. He repeated himself, as the years went by, that the only reason he remained in the classes was just for Avalon.

They were always the best of friends, Lena remembered sadly, suddenly missing her sister ten times more.

~ 0 ~

Liz 10 took the group through another corridor that was actually the base of a vator shaft, "There's a high-speed Vator through there," the Doctor looked into a caged area where similar tentacles Amy saw earlier were sprouting, "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?"

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root," Amy said.

"Exactly like a root. It's all one creature - the same one we were inside - reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What? Like an infestation?" Lena questioned.

"Someone's helping it. Feeding it."

"Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving," Liz stormed off in anger with Mandy behind.

"Doctor?" Lena slowly joined her two friends.

"Oh Lena, Amy," the Doctor sympathetically looked at the creatures as they banged against the bars, "We should never have come here."

Amy blinked as she remembered her video message...

~ 0 ~

Now in Liz's bedroom, the Doctor carefully walked through the maze of glasses filled with water on the floor, "Why all the glasses?"

Liz sat on her bed, a dark stare at the glasses, "To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what."

He picked up her mask and observed it, "A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"

"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this - my entire reign - and you've achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?"

"40. Why?"

Lena, who sat on the foot of the queen's bed, stared at Liz in awe, "So you're 50 now?"

Amy was putting her hair up as she took a seat next to Mandy on the chaise at the foot of the bed, "You have to tell me what you use."

"They slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps," Liz explained.

The Doctor sat on the bed, still holding the mask, " And you always wear this in public?"

"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."

"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face..."

"Yeah, so what?"

The Doctor sighed, "Oh, Liz. So everything."

Suddenly, the door of the bedroom opened up and four hooded men entered, one being the same man from the marketplace earlier. Liz stood up from her bed in outrage, "What are you doing? How dare you come in here?"

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?"

The men's face spun to show the angry face of a Smiler.

"How can they be Smilers?" Liz blinked.

"Half Smiler, half human," the Doctor explained.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?" she demanded from the men.

"The highest authority, Ma'am."

"I  _am_  the highest authority."

"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am."

Lena and Amy exchanged worried glances, but the two noticed the Doctor wore an unusual somber expression on his face...like he already knew what was going on.

~ 0 ~

The group was led into a large stone room in with machinery set up around. Amy noticed another grating where there were more creatures sprouting out, "Doctor, where are we?"

"The lowest point of Starship UK," he spun around with his arms out, "The dungeon."

"A bit too high-tech to be a dungeon, don't you think?" Lena questioned.

"Ma'am," the grey-haired man approached the group.

"Hawthorne! So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do," Liz crossed her arms.

Lena noticed the group of children working around the corners and frowned, "Why are there children down here?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," Hawthorne answered, "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Somehow I don't feel very lucky," Lena mumbled and moved away.

"She's right," the Doctor agreed, "We're in the Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" he started examining the equipment, "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

He joined Liz by an open 'well' with a rail around it, containing a creature that was most certainly alive.

"What's that?" Liz asked.

"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain center of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly..."

"Or?"

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button."

"I don't understand," Liz shook her head.

"Don't you? Try, go on," there was a sour tinge to the Doctor's tone. "The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature - this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading - it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving," he explained as an intermittent electrical beam shot down to the creature's exposed brain, "Tell you what," he moved to another well and lifted the grate, "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing," one of the the extensions of the creature broke free, "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear," he used the screwdriver and allowed the others to hear the creature's call.

"Stop it," Liz ordered and faced Hawthorne, "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions from the highest authority."

"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!" Liz ordered again but no one moved, "Is anyone listening to me?"

"Liz, your mask," the Doctor reminded, still holding said mask.

"What about my mask?"

He tossed her the mask, "Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."

"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."

"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years."

"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again, always leading you..." he took her by the hand and led her to the voting area, "Here," he pointed to the forget and abdicate buttons.

Liz gasped and looked at Hawthorne, "What have you done?"

"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us," Hawthorne turned on the screen of the voting area and another Liz 10 appeared on a recording.

" _If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London,_ " the real Liz sat down, " _The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. 'And what we have done to it breaks my heart," the rest of the group moved behind Liz and listened silently to the recording, "The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the "forget" button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision_."

"I voted for this?" Amy realized and glanced at the Doctor, "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong," he sharply looked at her, "You don't  _ever_  decide what I need to know."

"I don't even remember doing it," the ginger tried to reason.

"You did it. That's what counts."

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home," he declared and walked away.

"Why? Because I made a mistake?  _One_  mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"

He pretended to look at an instrument panel while the ginger spoke, "Yeah, I know. You're only human."

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Lena bit her lip, afraid she'd make him even more upset.

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"But that'll be like killing it and you don't do that," Lena quietly said, "That's not how the stories went with you. Avalon used to say-"

"Sorry Lena but those stories are  _old_ , I'm old now..." he shook his head, "There are only three options here. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor any more."

"There must be something we can do, some other way," Liz said.

"Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" he shouted and everyone went quiet. He got to work and no one spoke again for quite a while.

~ 0 ~

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned," Lena whispered as she neared the Doctor with a half-smile. "My Mum used to say that a lot to Avalon - she has quite the temper."

"She seems like the sort," the Doctor mumbled.

Lena gave a small nod of her head. "When my Mum was gone and she went into one of her fits...I used to tell her the quote, but now that she's gone too...I'll say it to you."

"Avalon's not gone,  _you_  are," the Doctor corrected and looked up at the brunette, seeing the sadness building up in her blue eyes, "But you know you can always go back, or...take her with you."

She shook her head, "No, she deserves a life of her own, away from her annoying, ill sister."

At her long stare, he sighed, "Look, Lena, there's nothing to do. I can't allow this poor creature to continue on in agony."

"But that's not how the story goes," Lena insisted, "You didn't kill all those infected people on New Earth. You cured them, and look at the results?" she gestured to herself, "Because of you, Avalon and I were born, my brother was born...you are the reason I stand here today. You began this bloodline, so please. Just think calmly and I'm sure you can find another way."

The Doctor paused his work and looked at the equipment around, actually listening to Lena for a moment.

"Do you know why Avalon calls you the fairy tale man?" she then asked. The Doctor shook his head, showing he was fairly curious of the new nickname he'd garnered from the ginger. "She's done her research on you. She knows a lot of your adventures on Earth and she always loves the part where you save everyone. To her-" Lena leaned on the panel beside him, "-no matter how bad things were, no matter how dark it all seemed, you always found a way to save them. Are you about to prove her wrong?"

"That's...a lovely view, but...it's not me," the Doctor admitted, sadly. "If Avalon knew...the  _real_ me...if you or Amy...you would change all those thoughts in a snap."

The way he spoke, and the emotion in his eyes, indicated for Lena that there was something he was holding back from her at the moment. And it was big. She reached for the Doctor's arm, a soft comforting smile on her face. "Well, I don't believe in fairy tales, and Amy just doesn't care. But let's keep Avalon thinking all those beautiful thoughts that could be true...even right now."

~ 0 ~

Amy sat beside Mandy against the wall, feeling awful of her earlier choices. But really, she did think the Doctor was overreacting just a tad. This was her _first_ adventure, shouldn't there be like a three mistakes and you're out sort of thing?

"Timmy!" Mandy jumped to her feet and ran over to her friend, "You made it, you're OK!" she hugged him but he said nothing, "It's me - Mandy."

Amy glanced over to see one of the feeler reaching for Mandy and started getting up...but the feeler gently tapped on Mandy's back and allowed her to pet it. Amy tilted her head as started to think...

"Doctor, stop," Amy shouted, startling the man from across, "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" she hurried over to Liz and took her hand, "Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand," she led the queen over to the voting area.

"Amy, no!" the Doctor dashed after them, "Don't!"

But Amy forced down Liz's hand on the 'abdicate' button. The whale bellowed and the entire ship shook, causing havoc on all levels.

"Amy, what have you done?" Lena asked, terrified as she looked around.

"Nothing at all. Am I right?" Amy nearly laughed at the oblivion of the others.

Hawthorne checked the readings over a monitor, "We've  _increased_  speed."

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help," Amy smiled.

"It's still here? I don't understand," Liz shook her head.

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it - that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry," Amy then turned to the Doctor, her face softening. "What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind. You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

~ 0 ~

"You know, it was yours and Avalon's birthday last week," Amy was saying to Lena as they approached the Doctor on the observation deck in which he was silently (and lonely) looking out onto the stars.

"Really?" Lena frowned.

Amy nodded, "Avalon turned 21 years old last week..."

"I'm still 19, aren't I?" Lena looked at the Doctor, "Cos...it's only been a day for me."

"Fraid so, sorry," he nodded, "But hey, as a present you could choose any place you want after this."

Lena smiled, "Thank you. Maybe we can go to New Earth? Dad never wanted to take us into the city."

"Consider it done," he said and she beamed.

"What did Avalon do for her birthday, then?" Lena curiously asked Amy. The ginger looked to the side while making a face both the Doctor and Lena caught, "Amy?" Lena raised an eyebrow.

"You know how Mel is..." Amy began and Lena groaned.

"Dear Lord I may just snatch Avalon and tie her up in the TARDIS!" Lena threw her head back in frustration, "Mel is a bad influence and she knows it!"

"What happened?" the Doctor asked, wanting to give the other ginger a chance. Perhaps it had been a nice birthday...

"Look, Rory and I, we were there the entire time," Amy began, facing Lena, "They drank, but we were there making sure nothing bad happened."

"Drank?" Lena sighed, "What?"

"It's the big 21, did you expect orange juice?" Amy raised an eyebrow, "We went to a pub, and Mels introduced Avalon to nearly every type of drink. Rory and I had a couple too, nothing bad. In the end though, we had to sort of...carry Avalon back home. Your dad wasn't too happy."

"And Mels?" Lena had to ask, though her stance on Mel wasn't too pleasurable she did still cared for the troublemaker and never wanted anything bad to happen to her.

"She's got more tolerance from experience."

"So for her grand 21st birthday, she got drunk?" the Doctor asked, "That doesn't sound very, um...nice.."

"It's not," Lena confirmed, "It's really, really not. I want Avalon to live her life but not like this. She's already corrupted because of me and now she's..." she shook her head and walked away.

"Lena!" Amy called but the brunette waved her off and went on her way. Amy sighed, "That didn't go so well," she turned to the Doctor, "Do you think you could help?"

"How?"

Amy tilted her head, sharply looking at him, "You met Avalon. She steals for Lena, the reasons why she's been in jail is because of Lena. She's not bad or anything, she just loves her sister too much. Plus, her mother died and she needed her, she  _still_  needs her. Avalon can say whatever she wants, do whatever she wants but the reality is she's screaming for a doctor to come help her. Be it, no raggedy man?"

It all sounded great, and the Doctor really did want to help Avalon in however he could...he just didn't know exactly how. "What can  _I_  do?"

Amy held Liz's mask to him and smiled, "Do what you did here. Help one more child."

~ 0 ~

"No one answered," Lena sighed as she hung up the TARDIS phone.

The Doctor stood beside her, having asked the brunette if she would like to at least call and make sure her family was alright. Lena didn't actually intend on talking, though. She only wanted to hear someone's voice, preferably her twin sister's...but no one answered.

"This is all my fault," Lena mumbled and walked away, heading for the closed doors.

"Why do you say that?" he turned and went after her.

She opened the doors and looked out to the beautiful stars ahead of them, "Do you see all those stars out there?" he nodded, "I'm not the one that should be standing here. I'm not the one who deserves to have met Liz 10...or be traveling through time and space," she looked at him softly, "I'm not the one you should have taken."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, though he had a pretty good idea of what it was.

"You can clearly tell I'm not made for traveling like this. I'm terrified of everything and I barely talk to strangers. This..." she gestured to the place, "...this is not my dream - it's not my fairy tale. This is Avalon's. Once again, I steal bits and pieces of her life...and I realize it too late."

"You're not stealing anything, Lena-"

"Oh but I am," she hugged herself and faced the stars once more, "I've always done that to Avalon, ever since we were little kids. My parents sometimes wouldn't let her go out and play with Amy, Rory or Mels because I was sick and I'd want to go out with her too. Then there were times where I knew Avalon needed mum, she was just scared of a bad dream or she simply wanted to spend time with her...but Mum was with  _me_ , taking care of me because I was ill," Lena swallowed as her tears built up in her eyes, "And then Mum died on us, she left us alone and no one felt lonelier than Avalon. But I didn't stop there, no," she bitterly laughed, "As a single father with three children, my Dad placed Avalon in charge of me and our brother while he worked. She's had to juggle this pseudo-motherhood thing with her own life. And because money's short, money's always been short without Mum, Avalon resorted to stealing for me. She's been in jail plenty of times and each time my Dad nearly chews her head off..and it's  _my_  fault. Today I stand here, in the place I just know Avalon's always wanted to see: the inside of the blue box. But  _I'm_  here, I'm taking her place again...and it's not fair."

"I'm so sorry you think like that," the Doctor sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder, "But I know that Avalon doesn't think that."

"I don't know how what my sister thinks," Lena shrugged, "I actually don't know anything about her," she turned to face him, "You know I don't even know what she wants to be. A teacher? An actress? I don't know, nobody knows. And you want to know why? Because she's too busy looking after me to make her own life. All day, she carries around her little journal that my mum gave her and she writes in it and I have no idea what she's thinking. But I know it's got to do with me, cos it always is. Lena needs new pills, Lena needs her inhaler, Lena has appointment...always about me and never about Avalon."

"Then what do you want to do?" the Doctor asked, half-smiling at her, "Do you want to go home and try to fix that? Or..."

"I want her to take my place in this box," she declared, "I should have thought of it before. Take Avalon and leave me on Earth with my family. I want you to travel and take her anywhere she wants. Far away from Earth. I want her to live without me barring up her life."

"I think I got a better idea," he raised a finger, "How about we take Avalon and  _you_  show her the stars."

"Me?"

"Mhm, it sounds to me like both twin sisters need to make their own lives. What better place than here? You show your sister a life not dedicated to you and I'll just be the driver...a bad one, but a fun one!"

She chuckled, "You'd like her, you know. She can definitely remind you of who you are...and if not she'd beat you up until you remembered."

The Doctor laughed, "Thanks but I could do without the beating up."

"I think you'll get along just fine. So, you wouldn't mind bringing in another Reynolds?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Nope. I frankly think it might be fun."

"Oh thank you," Lena hugged him, "You really have no idea how much you'll be helping me."

"Hey, isn't that was a big brother is supposed to do?"

"I don't know I only have a younger one," she pulled away, "And Gavin's a horrible nightmare!"

"I'll try my best to be a good one, I promise," he raised his hand as he made his promise.

"Thank you, big brother," Lena chuckled as she tested the word out, "Now c'mon, there's a certain ginger waiting for us!" she shut the doors and yanked him towards the console.


	3. A Trial Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avalon Reynolds gets to see the stars for the first time thanks to one Fairy Tale Man.

**June 2010.**

Avalon Reynolds walked down the solitary street of her house in the night, wearing a blue coat with a long purse over her shoulder. It was pretty quiet except for the sounds of her clicking heels...and her sniffles. She went up the small steps leading up to her front door and stopped to dig in her purse for her key.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," she mumbled, her view partially blurred by her tears, "Oh c'mon."

She heard the sounds of footsteps behind her and quickly turned around with a threatening glare, "Who's out-" her eyes widened when she saw the man who was now coming up the small steps. "Fairy tale man..." she breathed.

"Avalon," the Doctor half-smiled. He would've been more happy to see her when she didn't have a face stained with tears.

"You're here..." Avalon stepped forwards, reaching out to touch his face, "It's you."

"Y-yes," he nodded slowly, looking at her hand with wide eyes.

He missed Avalon's face turn into a glare and suddenly found himself slapped with all her might, "You murderer!" she started to yell. "You took my sister! You hurt her!"

"Murderer!? What!?" the Doctor put a hand on his cheek, appalled at what he was hearing.

"I trusted you and you took advantage of that! You stole her and then  _killed_  her!" she started smacking him on the chest. "How could you!? You're the fairy tale man! You're not supposed to kill us!"

"SHUSH!" he slammed his hand on her mouth and pushed her against the door, "All you're saying is complete  _lies_. So you're going to shut it and  _listen_  to me," he reached inside his pocket and took out his screwdriver. Avalon watched him sonic the door behind her, unaware she was practically free with only her mouth still covered up. The Doctor pulled her off the door and opened it up, pushing her inside the house before she decided to yell nonsense again.

"What are you doing?" Avalon wearily watched him close the door.

"Simply talking, see?" he pointed to his mouth, "Because I most certainly did not kill Lena."

"Then where is she?" she swallowed hard, her eyes adding more water to their already teary appearance, "It's been two years and there's not a trace of her anywhere. The last time I saw her she was with you-"

"She's okay, she's with Amy and I," the Doctor slowly said, seeing how worked up she already was.

"With you and... _Amy_?"

"In the TARDIS. You remember, right? The blue box?" she nodded, "Lena is in there and she's waiting for you."

"She's alive, then? You didn't kill her?"

"No, and look, if you want proof, here it is," he walked up to her, hand out with wiggling fingers. "Give me your phone."

"What for?" Avalon frowned, clutching her purse closer to her.

"To call Lena. Now give me!"

With a deeper frown, Avalon took her phone out of her purse and handed it to him. She intently watched as he used the sonic on it. "Why are you doing that to my phone? You're not gonna...bug it, are you?"

"Bug it?" the Doctor repeated. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Avalon shrugged. "You tell me. You're the alien with my sister who's been missing for two years."

"To be fair, it's only been a day for Lena. I got the time wrong-"

" _Again_?" Avalon's voice made him wince.

"Yes, again," the Doctor mumbled then put the phone on his ear.

"Now what are you doing?" Avalon was close to snatching her phone from him. She hated when people touched her stuff no matter who it was.

"Calling the TARDIS," the Doctor held a finger for her to be quiet as the line was picked up, "Hey Lena," Avalon lightly gasped at the name, "Yes, your sister seems to believe that I killed you and I would really appreciate if you could fix that issue. Thank you."

He held the phone out to her, now on speaker, "Avalon?" Lena's voice called. Avalon opened her mouth but only a small noise made it out, her tears already streaming down her face again. "Look, Avalon, I'm sorry for putting you into this kind of situation. I'm okay, I promise. The Doctor's been taking real good care of me. I was supposed to come and get you but...I got scared. The Doctor offered to bring you in. So, please come. Please? I miss you, sis. Oh! And please don't kill the Doctor, for me?"

"We're on our way," the Doctor said to Lena before hanging up.

As soon as the phone was hung up Avalon dropped to her knees with her arms around herself and quietly cried, now partially happy. The Doctor bent down in front of her, "I'm sorry you thought you lost your sister. She thought she was doing you good to stay away."

"Stay away?  _Why_?" Avalon's voice cracked, "I love her! She's my sister!"

"It's not my place to explain. But come on," he gently stood her to her feet, "You can go and hug her and tell her how much you've missed her."

"Why did you take her?" she tried to demand but her voice shook with her tears.

"She asked me to..."

"Why?"

"Avalon, I'd really rather let Lena do the explaining. It's really not my place."

"Fine, I'll go see her," she took a deep breath and started rubbing her tears away, "But you can't tell her you saw me crying."

"Why not?" he frowned in confusion.

"There's one thing you need to know about me, fairy tale man: Avalon Reynolds does not cry, ever."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"But um..." the Doctor gestured to her tears, "...you sort of already, um..."

The face Avalon made told him immediately to be quiet, and for once he listened.

"Listen to me, alright? When Avalon cries she reminds her father of his late wife, and that makes him sad. When Avalon cries she scares her little brother, and makes Lena want to cry and therefore harms her health. So, Avalon doesn't cry, got it?"

"So what upsets Avalon?" the Doctor challenged, unable to help his smirk when she blinked in startle.

"What?"

"I asked what upsets you  _you_? What makes Avalon cry that doesn't have to do with her family?"

"I-I don't know, what kind of question is that?" she shook her head, "Look, you stay here and I'll go change. I want to see my sister and I'd rather not do it in the clothes I got dumped in. In fact, I'm gonna burn them."

The Doctor scoffed, " _Burn_ them? C'mon, Aval..." but he stopped at the face the ginger gave, "...you have a way to start a fire don't you?"

"I have a way to start a fire," she declared emotionless. "Stay here," she ordered and let her purse fall to the floor, "And you better not leave this time, got it?"

He raised his hands in surrender, "Got it."

She pointed a warning finger at him as she backed away into the hallway, "I mean it," he nodded and so went off the ginger.

The Doctor took a breath after the ginger was out of sight. She sure was a handle wasn't she? He took a look around the house and found it was a very nice, simple house for alien humans. There was one large couch set against the wall with a window above it, two couch-chairs perpendicular to the larger couch. There was a television set up across with a rather intricate wooden furniture piece around and several bright green plants.

As the Doctor moved up to pick up Avalon's purse, he noticed several photographs on the center table of the room. He walked over to a certain picture frame and picked it up; it was a photo of whom he could suppose were the twins' mother. The woman, Emmalina, was a brunette woman with blue eyes, a perfect future version of Lena if the Doctor had to describe. He then picked up another frame which turned out to be a family picture. There he could see where Avalon and her younger brother, Gavin, got their ginger hair - their father. He put both frames down and started moving further into the living room and spotted more frames over a mantle. Some included the Reynolds children together doing various activities. Young Gavin was in a soccer team. Another had Lena holding a paper with a curious art. In another, Avalon was smiling brightly holding a karate trophy.

"Why are you holding my purse?" the Doctor dropped said purse and the picture frame on the ground at the sound of Avalon's voice.

"Sorry, it was on the floor," he mumbled as he reached down to pick up what had spilled from the purse.

"No, don't touch that!" she exclaimed and startled him again. She quickly ran over and literally smacked his hand the moment it made contact with her journal, "Don't touch it, it's mine!" she hugged the journal and backed away, clutching the book against her chest.

"Okay, sorry," he raised his hands in defeat, the ginger seemed so worked up over a simple journal. If he was being quite honest, the journal wasn't even that pretty. It had a brown leather cover with a strap to keep it closed, its corners beaten up from apparent age. There were small childlike stickers on the cover and a small initial of 'A.H.R' on the lower center.

"Why do you have that?" Avalon nodded to the picture frame the Doctor still held in his hand.

"Sorry, I got curious, sort of my thing," he flashed a smile, "You do karate, then?"

"Yeah. Problem?"

The Doctor ignored the edginess in her question and shook his head. "You just didn't seem the type last time we met."

"While I do love myself the stories of the prince saving the princess, I know that sometimes a girl has to save herself," Avalon shrugged lightly. "And it's pretty fun to do so."

A wider smile spread across the Doctor's face.

"I still don't understand why Lena isn't here," she quietly said, her gaze slowly falling as she thought of the last two years of her life searching for her missing younger twin sister.

"She was busy traveling, but only one trip of course," the Doctor informed as he picked up Avalon's bag, "She missed her sister far too much to keep going alone."

"Is she okay? Has she had any relapses?"

"None," he answered and she half-smiled.

"So she was okay for two years? With no medical assistance at all?"

"Well...it hasn't exactly been two years for us, more like one day remember?"

Avalon nodded. "And you said...you said Amy was with you?"

"Yeah-"

"But how can that be?" she asked so quick that the Doctor was unable to finish his own response to her previous question. "I talked to her this afternoon."

"I sort of took her along with Lena and I."

"Why her?"

"Uhm, well..." the Doctor didn't want to disclose just yet about the crack in Amy's bedroom. But he also didn't want to hurt Avalon's feelings by making it look like he had chosen only Amy and Lena to travel with him.

"Forget it, that's the wrong question," Avalon suddenly took it back with a flushed face. "I want to see her, though. Because she had no business going out travelling  _tonight_."

"When?"

"Why do you say it like that?" he raised an eyebrow, sensing there was something important about tonight than he knew apparently.

Avalon sharply looked at him, waiting for him to remember...unless he didn't  _know_  because Amy  _hadn't_  informed him nor Lena of what this night was...

"She didn't tell you anything?" she demanded, "Do you know what's happening tomorrow?"

"No, what is?"

"Oh I'm gonna kill her," she informed then headed for the door.

"Killing who, exactly?" the Doctor dreaded as he asked and followed her, bringing her purse.

"Amelia Pond, that's who," Avalon turned around and made him bump into her, "She's always doing this to him and I won't stand for it anymore," she opened the door and walked out, "Sonic the door and bring my purse!" she ordered as she hurried down the stairs.

"What? When did I turn into your servant?" the Doctor frowned as he watched her turn once she was on the street ground.

She half-smirked, "This is just me, fairy tale man. Now sonic that door and let's go," she motioned him to hurry.

"How do you even know what sonic can do!?"

"Cos you carry a sonic screwdriver," she shrugged. "And did you get a new one? Cos that's not the one you had two years ago. It was all small and...kind of stupid-looking-"

"Oi!" the Doctor pointed at her, offended on behalf of his previous incarnation.

"Oh let's go," she yanked him out the door and once again ordered him to sonic her door.

~ 0 ~

"What, we're supposed to fit in there?" Avalon pointed to the TARDIS while giving the Doctor a 'not gonna happen' look, "All of us?"

"Uh, yes," he nodded, gesturing for her to open the doors herself. He was excited to see what the ginger's expressions would be like upon seeing the interior.

Avalon scoffed however, crossing her arms, "Oh nice try fairy tale man but I am not getting in there."

"Why not? Lena is in there," he reminded her of the crucial fact.

"Oh and here you thought you'd get Avalon inside that little box where certain things could happen, huh?" she raised an eyebrow, "Well I'm not stupid, and that's not happening," she poked his chest with each word she spoke, "Now you take me to my sister right this instant!"

"I am but you don't want to get in!" he exclaimed, nearly cried of frustration. "I thought you knew the story of the TARDIS!?"

"That it's a box, yeah, but I don't know how it works," Avalon folded her arms, expectantly waiting for him to get her to Lena.

"Avalon, I promise you Lena is inside. If you would just-"

Avalon glanced back at the TARDIS. "Fine, but you have to over  _there_!" she pointed a finger to the side.

"Why? It's my TARDIS," he frowned.

"Because I say so and I don't want you and me in there if it does turn out to be a small box. So go wait over there!"

"It's not, it's really not!"

"Well, then let me see that and you are more than welcome to come back."

"But this is  _my_  ship! You can't just tell the pilot to ' _go wait over there'_ ," he mimicked her voice, promptly getting a small amused smile out of the ginger, "I'm the one inviting  _you_  in so I get to stay right  _here_ ," he pointed to his current spot.

With a raised eyebrow, Avalon straightened herself and raised her head, challenging him to see how long it would take for him to give up and just follow her order.

"Are we really going to do this?" the Doctor frowned after getting the message.

Avalon just waited.

"Avalon Reynolds, you're acting more like a child right now than when you were seven!"

Avalon waited.

"Avalon! C'mon!"

The ginger did not budge.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair in utter frustration, "Oh my god," he turned on his feet and moved to stand where she'd pointed him to. Avalon smirked and struggled not to laugh. "There!" the Doctor waved his hands once he arrived to the precise spot.

"Thank you," Avalon said and turned to face the TARDIS. Her blue eyes gazed the box over as a big smile spread across her face. Slowly, she reached to touch the door and gasped once her fingers made contact with it. "It's the TARDIS..." she whispered to herself, her joy doubling within the next second. She finally pushed the doors open and poked her head inside. "Oh my..." she gasped at the bright orangey interior. She never imagined what actually laid inside the blue box - the stories never said. Her eyes widened to the impossible when she was fully inside and saw the console room.

"It's good, isn't it?" she gasped and turned when the Doctor spoke from behind. He stood just outside the box with a smirk that screamed 'Ha!' to her.

"Oh you were waiting for me to react like this, weren't you?" she raised an eyebrow, her shock fading away.

"Yes," he stepped inside and closed the doors behind him.

"Is this how it goes, then?"

"How what goes?"

"You try to impress anyone who comes in here?" she turned away and continued to look around, quietly making her way further into the room, "Show off your box that's bigger on the inside...and then what happens after that?"

"I don't try to impress..." the Doctor tried to make the argument but found it was rather useless as it was one of his most exciting parts as a time traveler, "...alright, I do. But what happens next is entirely up to you. You could simply go back there," he pointed back to the door, "And continue on with your boring Earth life  _or_..." he smirked, "...you can stay and see anything you want in the universe."

"Perfect fairy tale, isn't that right?" she smirked back, looking at the upper levels. "But you know, I get the feeling one of the women you've picked up is being blinded by this fairy tale, and it's  _not_ me," she sharply looked at him for a second. "Which is kind of disappointing, actually."

"How do you mean?"

"It's quite simple, Doctor. You don't know what what tomorrow is and that's all I need to know," she sighed and moved to the console, "You know I remember your story, the one from New Earth. Saved all those people, then when New Earth was quarantined you saved them again. But not one of the stories included this," she smiled at the controls and the Doctor dared to believe he'd seen a mischievous glint in them. "What the!?" she'd been startled when the rotor started moving up and down. "For once I didn't touch anything!" she backed away with hands raised up.

"She likes you," the Doctor chuckled and reached for her hand, intending on placing it on the rotor.

"Waiiiit a second!" she pulled her hand back. "What is that?"

"She's alive, Avalon," the Doctor gestured to the entire place, making her eyes go wide again. "And her humming is just her way of communicating."

"But she doesn't actually...talk? With words?"

"No, she can't do that."

"So then how do you differentiate when she's mad at you?"

"I...take it when she makes the console spark."

"Ha, she blows sparks at you?" Avalon laughed and then voluntarily placed a hand on the console's rotor. "That's a cool box, alright. Mind if I take her for a spin?"

"You wish!"

But the TARDIS hummed suddenly, making the Doctor's mouth fall open.

"Oh! Did she just say yes!?" Avalon clapped her hands excitedly.

"I can't believe you," the Doctor muttered to the console. "Trader!"

"Fairy tale man, does your box like me more than it likes you?" Avalon was on the verge of teasing when she heard her sister's voice calling for her.

"Avalon?" Lena stood at the second level rails, her eyes watering up with joy as she saw her ginger twin sister below.

"Lena," Avalon gasped, dropping her purse to the floor as Lena hurried down the stairs, "You're okay!" she ran like mad to join her sister.

The twins met in an ecstatic, tight hug where Lena cried and Avalon did her best  _not_  to cry.

"I am so, so, so, so sorry for making you think I was murdered!" Lena sobbed as Avalon pulled away, "I only wanted to help but I think I made things worse and hurt you, Dad and Gavin and I'm so sorry for that, please forgive me!"

"I don't care about of that, silly," Avalon took her sister's face in her hands, needing to see for herself that Lena was safe and okay, "I'm just glad you're okay. You're okay right? Nothing hurts? No shortness of breath? You're fine?"

Lena nodded, "Yeah, I feel much better now. Heck, I even have a big brother now."

"Excuse me?" Avalon raised an eyebrow. Lena just chuckled and turned her to the direction of the Doctor. Avalon scoffed, "Ha!  _Him_? No, no, no, that won't work. He's an idiot."

"You're not very nice, are you?" the Doctor sighed. "I thought I was the fairy tale man?"

"Doesn't stop you from being an idiot who happens to save the world," Avalon shrugged carelessly. "But honestly, I don't think you have the makings to be a big brother to my sister."

"Why not?"

"Because she needs a lot of care that only  _I_  know how to give. She's sick and she needs a specific treatment and special attention."

The Doctor looked at Lena who simply bore the face expression of 'see what I mean?'.

"Lena you can't stay here, it's far too risky," Avalon turned to Lena, "We need to go home. Dad's finally going to smile again when he sees I've brought you back."

"I don't want to go," Lena stepped away from her sister, "I want to stay with the Doctor."

"But why?"

"Because...because..." Lena looked at the Doctor, needing that courage to say at least part of her words.

Seeing the brunette needing some help, the Doctor walked over and put an arm around Lena, "Because your sister dreams of a different life, for herself and you."

" _Me_?" Avalon pointed at herself, far more confused now.

"I want you to see what I've seen," Lena whispered, "I want my big twin sister to enjoy her life for once."

"My life? I enjoy my life...very much!"

"No you don't," Lena shook her head, "And I know you'd never say it because of me. But the Doctor has offered to take me with him, and  _you_. He can show us things you always dreamed of, and don't try to say you haven't dreamed of traveling," she had said when she saw Avalon opening her mouth to contradict, "I know you have dreams that you'd never dare to make true because of me so this is like a sort of compromise, perhaps a taste of those dreams."

And hopefully one day Avalon could finally leave her home to make her own life too, Lena thought.

"So what do you say, Avalon? Would you like to see a taste of the world? Universe, actually," the Doctor asked the ginger.

"But I... _we_...we can't..." Avalon began, shaking her head, "There's a lot to do back home, starting with tomorrow. I mean, tomorrow there's a big we-"

"The TARDIS travels through  _time_ ," the Doctor reminded her, "Fourteen years can be five minutes on Earth. Or, a couple of months can be a simple day on Earth."

"C'mon Avalon, say yes?" Lena questioned.

"Perhaps a trial trip could alter your answer?" the Doctor tried, seeing the hesitant ginger backing away.

"How's that work?" Avalon asked.

"We could go somewhere, anywhere you want. At the end of the day, you decide whether or not you'd like to continue traveling. Though it would be independent of Lena's decisions of course."

"But Lena can't stay..." Avalon insisted, frustrated that he couldn't see her twin sister couldn't be traveling about in her state. She needed to be in a clam environment with full attention.

"I think that's more of Lena's decision, don't you think?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, Lena looking away from her sister.

"But...but she's..."

"Avalon?" they heard Amy's voice from the corridor's, soon the other ginger stepping out.

"Amelia Pond!" Avalon frowned, forgetting the current conversation and marching over, "How dare you come in here when you're getting ma-"

Amy quickly clasped her hand over Avalon's mouth, shooting the Doctor and Lena a nervous smile, "Ha, we had an argument the day before. Still quite peeved with me - OW!" she jerked her hand away and rubbed her palm.

"Don't you  _ever_  do that again," Avalon snapped and straightened herself, "I've already had one hand over me tonight and that was enough. Amy, you and I have to seriously talk."

"Yes, yes, I know," Amy rubbed her palm, frowning, "I know okay?"

"What's going on?" Lena called, upset to see her sister and friend arguing over something unknown, but apparently important.

Suddenly, a phone began ringing, cutting the conversation short.

"Is that a phone?" Amy asked, confused.

"How do you think we contacted Avalon?" Lena gestured.

"Ladies, I will remind you that this is indeed a  _phone_  box," the Doctor sighed and went to the console, shooting Avalon a small smirk, "Would you like to answer?"

"Why me?" she frowned, confused.

"You're on trial, what better way to begin with a phone call from  _anyone_  in the world. How about it then?"

"Always trying to impress, aren't you?" she rolled her eyes and moved for the console, "Alright, fine. But fair warning, I'm not impressed easily."

"You were when you were seven."

"I grew up, so did my standards," she responded with a smirk.

"Then I'll just try harder," the Doctor matched her smirk and held the phone to her.

Avalon rolled her eyes and took the phone. "Hello?" she blinked rapidly at the voice on the other line, "Sorry, who? No, seriously,  _who_?" she muffled the phone against her shoulder and shot the Doctor a suspicious look, "Apparently, it's the Prime Minister."

"First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?" Amy called, getting a confused look from Avalon, "We met Queen Elizabeth XX."

Avalon's eyes widened for a second as she looked back at the Doctor, "What?"

"Which Prime Minister?" he calmly asked her.

"Which Prime Minister am I speaking to, exactly?" she asked on the phone, "Right, the British one but which one exactly?" She raised an eyebrow and held the phone to the Doctor, "I'm sorry, you have Winston Churchill on the line?"

"Oh, he's a nice one. Impressed yet?" the Doctor took the phone from her, unable to stop himself from smirking.

Avalon licked her bottom lip, unwilling to give in so easily. "Not one bit," she whipped her head to the side, her ginger locks bouncing with the action.

The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes, oh he knew she was a little impressed, which was good. He liked when people in his TARDIS were impressed. He held the phone to his ear and took the call, "Hello, dear. What's up?"

"Tricky situation, Doctor. Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you," Winston Churchill declared.

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister. We're on our way," the Doctor hung up and face the three women he was now, apparently, going to be traveling with, "Well Avalon, you want to be impressed? How's about Winston Churchill?"

"Mm, I don't know..." she shrugged casually.

"Avalon, don't be like that," Lena quietly said, "He's trying to show you a bit of history, by the looks of it. Be nice."

"Alright, fine," Avalon crossed her arms, looking straight at the Doctor, "Let the trial begin, fairy tale man."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS to soldiers with pointing guns at him. As the soldiers parted for Winston, the Doctor held his arm in introduction to the ginger on trial as she stepped out behind, "Avalon, Winston Churchill."

"Oh no way," Avalon flashed a smile of disbelief. Once she realized it though, she dropped the smile and acted as nonchalant as possible.

"Doctor? Is it you?" Winston eyed the Doctor for a minute while Lena and Amy stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" the Doctor went to shake hands but Winston motioned with his hand for something else, making the Doctor chuckle, "Ah, every time!"

"What's he after?" Amy asked.

"TARDIS key, of course."

"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor! The lives that could be saved!" Winston exclaimed.

"Ah, doesn't work like that," the Doctor closed the doors of the TARDIS.

"Must I take it by force?" Winston motioned to the surrounding guns aimed at them.

"Actually, could you give the order for them to lower those things," Avalon instructed sternly, "They make my sister nervous and I don't like it when my sister's nervous."

"Avalon," Lena sighed.

Here was her older twin sister in  _history_  meeting  _Winston Churchill_...and Avalon was thinking of  _her_. This was exactly what Lena wished she could change in a snap of a finger. Avalon needed to understand that she could make her own life now, that she was free to do what she wanted. But Lena knew she couldn't change it alone nor in a snap of a finger. She would need a lot of help, and she knew the Doctor could be the extra help. Well that wasn't true exactly, there was one more person who could help Avalon...but he was currently still on Earth with no idea where they were.

"At ease," Winston gave the order and down went the rifles.

"You rang?" the Doctor asked.

~ 0 ~

The group strode through the corridor as an air raid was currently going on up above. As the group walked, the Doctor held Winston's cane, twirling it around and whatnot. Behind him were the Reynolds twins, one looking around in awe yet protective of her younger twin. Amy bit her nail nervously beside the twins, hoping to God she could get Avalon to the side before she spilled what should  _not_  be spilled just yet.

"So you've changed your face, again," Winston remarked to the Doctor.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done."

"Is that the bit where you change your face?" Avalon neared the Doctor just to ask that question. But before the Doctor could even open his mouth, she went on. "Because my parents said that my whatever-times-grandparents had said you looked different. Like...like taller and..." she eyed him, "...far skinnier-" she shook her head.

"Hey!" went the Time Lord, causing the ginger to blink rapidly.

Lena decided it was time to turn the conversation around. "I got it! Cabinet War Rooms, right?"

"Yup, top secret heart of the War Office, right under London," the Doctor agreed and she beamed. Avalon noticed the small moment with intrigue but stayed silent.

"You're late, by the way," Winston remarked.

"Ha, see that hasn't changed," Avalon remarked casually, "Twelve years...fourteen years...how much was he late by this time?" she asked Winston.

"I rang him a month ago."

"Well, not too shabby," Avalon smirked.

"It's a Type 40 TARDIS," the Doctor argued, "I'm just running her in."

"Excuses."

"Avalon," Amy lightly scolded.

"Excuse me, sir, got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them," an officer stopped by Winston.

"We shall go up top then, Group Captain! We'll give 'em what for! Coming, Doctor?" Winston turned to the Doctor.

"Why?"

Winston snatched back his cane, "I have something to show you."

The Doctor looked back at the trio of women and mouthed 'Oooh', making Amy and Lena giggle. Avalon looked at Lena and softly smiled, it had actually been quite a while since Lena had giggled like that...probably since their mother had died.

~ 0 ~

Winston started the lift and puffed on his cigar, the Doctor waving the smoke away while Avalon covered Lena's mouth for safety.

"We stand at a crossroads, Doctor. Quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace," Winston declared, the Doctor sensing a bit more than just a simple determination.

"Such as?" he asked.

Winston opened up the gate, "Follow me."

The group found them selves on the rooftop of the building which was covered in sandbags. A man in a white coat stood on a higher level with binoculars as he looked up to the sky.

"Wow," Amy breathed, Lena doing the same. Avalon stepped a couple feet ahead of the group, silently looking around.

"Doctor, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides Project," Winston gestured to the man on the higher level.

The Doctor held up his hand with a 'V' for victory just as the man in the coat waved at them, "How d'you do?"

A formation of German planes were approaching up in the sky just as Bracewell had looked up again. Avalon slowly walked towards the edge and looked over the city of London with its large barrage balloons as bombs dropped.

"Impressed now, Avalon?" the Doctor called as he watched her looking out.

"It's history..." the ginger mumbled and turned away, shaking her head. She looked up at Bracewell and frowned, "Can we go up there?" she called.

"What for?" Bracewell curiously glanced at the ginger for a minute.

"I want to see it even higher..."

"She's on her way, Doctor," Lena excitedly looked up at the man beside her.

The Doctor watched the ginger with a slight pride as she climbed up to the higher level.

"Ready, Bracewell?" Winston called.

"Aye-aye, sir," Bracewell gave the thumbs up sign, "Miss, you may want to step to the side," he gestured for Avalon to move to their right. Carefully, she did and leaned forwards to see the city again, "On my order! Fire!"

From within a sandbagged area on the higher level, laser beams were fired up to the sky and destroyed completely the German planes.

"What was that?" Amy asked, a bit confused.

Avalon faced the sandbagged area, a faint remembrance of that sound.

"That wasn't human, that was never human technology," the Doctor frowned as he tried working out the beam, "That sounded like... Show me! Show me what that was!" he quickly hurried up to the ladder and climbed it, "Avalon, get away from there," he called as he finally reached up.

"Shush," Avalon was trying to peer over the railing into the sandbagged area.

"Advance!" Bracewell gave the order.

"Our new secret weapon!" Winston exclaimed.

Avalon leaned back as a Dalek trundled right in front of her. It was painted in Army Khaki with a utility belt around it and a small Union Flag under its eyestalk, the light on top of its dome completely covered. "Oh..." Avalon blinked with wide eyes as the eyestalk of the Dalek nearly touched her, "...this is new. Don't remember this in history books."

"What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Winston called to the Doctor with pride.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded from the Dalek.

"I am your soldier," the Dalek answered.

"What?"

"I am your soldier."

"Stop this. Stop now! You know who I am, you always know," the Doctor snapped.

"Your identity is unknown."

"Perhaps I can clarify things here, this is one of my Ironsides," Bracewell stepped forwards.

"Your what?" the Doctor looked back at the man.

"Are you sure that's their name?" Avalon frowned, feeling a faint tickle in her mind, if that's an actual thing, "Cos they look sort of..." she trailed off as she tried finding the right words.

"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" Bracewell asked the Daleks.

"Yes," the Dalek replied.

"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"

"Yes."

"And what is your ultimate aim?"

"To win the war!"

~ 0 ~

The Doctor stared at the diagrams and blueprints presented to him in Winston's office, all showing how these 'Ionsides' were created. But of course he didn't believe a word, "They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!"

"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look!" Winston pointed to the facts on the papers, "Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He invented them!"

"Invented them? Oh, no, no, no!"

"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius."

"A Scottish genius, too," Amy cut in, "Maybe you should listen to..."

"Shh!" the Doctor shooed the ginger away, "He didn't invent them! They're alien."

"Alien?" Winston raised an eyebrow.

Just as the Doctor opened up his mouth to explain the actual origins of the blasted things, a Dalek glided by the open doorway. It stopped for a moment to view the action then continued on its way.

"And totally hostile!" the Doctor continued as soon as the Dalek had gone.

"Precisely. They will win me the war!" Winston turned over a blueprint to show a propaganda poster with the image of a large Dalek.

~ 0 ~

The group followed Winston through the corridors, the Doctor adamantly calling after, "Why won't you listen? Why call me in if you won't listen to me?!"

"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true," Winston admitted.

"Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!"

"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!"

"I am imagining," the Doctor warily eyed a passing by Dalek, "Amy, tell him."

Amy blinked in surprise, "Tell him what?"

"About the Daleks!"

"What would I know about the Daleks?" she looked at the twins for some help, she didn't even know these things  _existed_!

"Everything. They invaded your world, remember?" the Doctor looked at her sharply, "Planets in the sky, you don't forget that! Amy... Tell me you remember the Daleks."

"Nope, sorry," Amy shrugged.

"That's not possible," he looked at the twins, "Lena? Avalon? C'mon, you remember them right...?"

Lena shook her head, "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

"Avalon?" he raised an eyebrow at the ginger.

She scrunched her face as she tried to make memory, "Well...the beams, they were...sort of familiar familir-"

" _Yes_!" he nearly shouted, "Because they invaded your world!"

"I just..." she rubbed the side of her head, "...I'm sorry, it's like I want to remember but I can't."

"This is impossible," the Doctor concluded, unable to decide what was worse at the moment.

~ 0 ~

The group stood inside the map room where women were manning the radios and moving figures over the large map as needed.

"So they're up to something, but what is it? What are they after?" the Doctor asked, literally going crazy with the unknown answers and sudden amnesia with the girls.

"I'd like to know that too," Avalon declared and strolled over to a Dalek.

"Avalon!" the Doctor scolded but did no good as the ginger tapped the Dalek's casing.

The Dalek swiveled to focus its eyestalk on Avalon, "Can I be of assistance?"

"Oh definitely," Avalon crossed her arms, "See cos it's funny that I can't remember you but I  _know_  you exist and you are most certainly not kind. Tell me, what have you done to my sister and friend's head? Why are you here? The Doctor says you're an alien, but is that true?"

"I am your soldier," the Dalek plainly said.

"Yeah but is there anything else you might want to add?" Avalon leaned forwards with a sharp look.

"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform," the Dalek glided away.

Avalon frowned, "Well I wasn't finished yet but I guess you were."

"Avalon, don't do that anymore!" Lena rushed over to her sister and hugged her, the Doctor going over to Winston in the meantime.

The Doctor plucked the cigar out of Winston's mouth, "Winston, Winston, please."

"We are waging total war, Doctor! Day after day, the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist."

"Wait till the Daleks get started," the Doctor mumbled.

"Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames."

"Yeah? Try the Earth in flames!"

"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart," Winston moved around the table as he observed the positions of the figures.

"But you're resisting, Winston! The whole world knows you're resisting! You're a beacon of hope," the Doctor followed the man around.

"But for how long? Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!"

A Dalek neared the pair, "Can I be of assistance?"

The Doctor nearly exploded of frustration with the blasted creature beside them, "Shut it!" he pointed and looked at Winston, "Listen to me. Just listen! The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!"

"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favorable reference to the Devil! These machines are our salvation!" a siren sounded, "Oh, the all-clear. We are safe. For now," with that, Winston left.

"Doctor, it's the all-clear. Are you OK?" Lena softly asked as Amy, Avalon and her joined him.

He twisted an officer's cap in his hands as he watched the Dalek glide away, "What does hate look like?"

"Hate?"

"It looks like a Dalek. And I'm going to prove it," he tossed the cap before putting it on a desk as he walked out.

~ 0 ~

The group entered Bracewell's lab as the man worked. The Doctor quickly began checking everything out for anything that could back up his statements. Meanwhile, Avalon was sure to keep Lena at a safe distance from Bracewell, she too on the defensive side until everything was proven out.

"All right, Prof! The PM's been filling me in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them," the Doctor said as he sat down and began reading a file.

"Just doing my bit," Bracewell said, unaware of the suspicious looks given to his back.

Amy picked up a spanner, "Not bad for a Paisley boy."

"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear," Bracewell looked over to the ginger and smiled.

"Mind my asking, actually I don't care either way, but how'd you come up with these things?" Avalon asked, "Where'd this idea come from in the first place?"

"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?"

The Doctor tossed the file he read onto the desk behind and stood up, "But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?"

"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like... let me show you," Bracewell showed the group a series of files as he explained, "Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that could sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!"

"And are these your ideas or  _theirs_?"

"No, no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Doctor. They are..." a Dalek brought Bracewell his tea, "Thank you...the perfect servant, and the perfect warrior."

"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them! Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!"

Winston entered the room with another Dalek, "Yes, Doctor. Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!"

"Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too!" the Doctor turned to him, really about to pull out his own hair because no one would listen to him!

"Would you care for some tea?" a Dalek neared him with a cup of tea on a tray.

Suddenly, the Doctor upset the tray and startled everyone around him as it fell to the floor with a crash, "Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?" he shouted.

"We seek only to help you," the Dalek remained calm.

"To do what?"

"To win the war."

"Really?  _Which_  war?"

"I do not understand."

"This war, against the Nazis? Or your war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life-forms that are not Dalek?"

"I do not understand. I am your soldier."

"Oh, yeah? OK," the Doctor turned around and picked up a giant spanner, "OK, soldier, defend yourself!" he started banging the spanner against the Dalek furiously. Everyone behind was in a mixture of horror and fear.

"Doctor, what the devil...?!" Bracewell stepped forwards, appalled.

"You do not require tea?" the Dalek simply said while the Doctor continued striking it.

"Stop it! Prime Minister, please!" Bracewell pleaded for someone to make the man stop.

"Doctor, please, these machines are precious," Winston tried but the Doctor wouldn't desist.

"Come on! Fight back! You want to, don't you? You know you do!" he continued shouting at the Daleks.

"Doctor, be careful!" Amy tried reaching for him but Avalon pulled her back along with Lena.

"I must protest!" Bracewell exclaimed.

"What are you waiting for? You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me. Kill me!" the Doctor yelled angrier and angrier as the seconds ticked by.

"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier," the Dalek said.

"You are my enemy!" the Doctor punctuated his sentences with a hard strike each time, "And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the  _Daleks_!" he kicked the Dalek and it rolled backwards.

"Correct. Review testimony," the Dalek said as it stood still again.

Everyone heard the Doctor's last sentence on playback, "'I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!'

"Testimony? What are you talking about, testimony?" the real Doctor asked.

"Transmitting testimony now," the Dalek said.

"Transmit what, where?"

"Testimony accepted!" the Dalek said.

"Marines! Marines! Get in here!" Winston called and quickly two Marines came into the room...only for one to be shot and killed by the Dalek.

"Stop it! Stop it, please! What are you doing?" Bracewell demanded, "You are my Ironsides!"

"We are the Daleks!" the other Dalek corrected.

"But I created you!"

"No," the Dalek shot off Bracewell's hand to reveal a stump of wires and circuits, "We created  _you_!"

Both Daleks chanted in unison, "Victory! Victory! Victory!" they teleported out of the room.

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else;  _you_  are the one who gets burned," Avalon nearly shouted, the Doctor wincing at how different that quote had been used against him now, "I have a temper myself but you sure outdo me, sir. Look what's happened?"

"I don't understand what happened..." Lena confessed, feeling slightly better when Amy agreed with a nod.

"Idiot, now I'm sure," Avalon declared.

"Yeah, fine, you're right," the Doctor turned to her, irritated, "I wanted to know what they wanted, what their plan was.  _I_  was their plan!"

"So then how do we fix it?" Avalon put her hands on her hips, expectantly waiting for the solution.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor entered the room where the TARDIS had been placed in and headed down the stairs towards it, ""Testimony accepted!" That's what they said! My testimony."

The group followed after him with Winston, "Don't beat yourself up. You were right," Amy offered.

"Yes, except now they want to kill us," Avalon reminded.

"Oh stop being such a prune!" Amy turned to her.

"Oh let's not go making arguments with me Amelia Pond," Avalon pointed warningly, "You still have a full explanation to give, let's not forget."

"Not the time," Lena sighed, "Doctor, what do we do now?" she asked softly, terrorized beyond belief, " Is this what we do now? Chase after them?"

"This is what  _I_  do," he corrected, "It's dangerous, so wait here."

"What, you mean you mess up and we've got to stay down here in the middle of the London  _blitz_?" Avalon raised an eyebrow. "You realize what's wrong with that sentence right?"

"Look, it's as safe as it gets around me," he waved and stepped into the TARDIS.

"What does he expect us to do now?" Amy crossed her arms.

"KBO, of course," Winston answered.

"What?"

"Keep buggering on!"

~ 0 ~

The Doctor hurriedly worked the controls of the console and checked the monitor where thankfully the Dalek ship appeared, "Bingo!"

~ 0 ~

A young woman, named Breen, entered the map room with a communique, "Prime Minister."

"Yes?" Winston looked over.

She handed him the paper to read, "Signal from RDF, sir. Unidentified object. Hanging in the sky, Captain Childers says. We can't get a proper fix, though. It's too far up."

"What do you think, Miss Pond? Reynolds' twins?" he looked at the women, "The Doctor's in trouble and now we know where he is."

"Yeah. Cos he'll be on that ship, won't he? Right in the middle of everything," Lena uneasily pointed that out.

"Exactly!"

~ 0 ~

As the Daleks watched the Progenitor device continuing its programmed course, the TARDIS materialized behind the three. They swiveled their top sections to see the Doctor coming out of the box while rubbing his hands.

"How about that cuppa now, then?" he asked, slowly approaching.

"It is the Doctor! Exterminate!"

"Wait, wait, wait, I wouldn't if I were you!" he pulled out a round object, in reality a cookie with jam inside, and held it out in front of him, "TARDIS self-destruct. And you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it."

"You would not use such a device," one of the Daleks declared.

"Try me," he challenged and when a Dalek moved forwards he quickly reminded them, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans! No nothing! One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang-bang, Daleks boom!" the Dalek moved back to its place with the other two, "Good boy," he took a look at the Dalek's instrument panels around, "This ship's pretty beaten up - running on empty, I'd say, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished."

"One ship survived."

"And you fell back through time, yes? Crippled?" the Doctor didn't care how sadistic his question sounded. He wished all Daleks would just die already. "Dying?"

"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices."

"Progenitor? What's that when it's at home?"

"It is our past. And our future."

"Ohhh, that's deep. That is deep for a Dalek," the Doctor admitted, "What does it mean, though?"

"It contains pure Dalek DNA, thousands were created, all were lost, save one."

"OK, but there's still one thing I don't get, though - if you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?"

"It was... necessary."

"But why?" the Doctor picked up on the hesitancy to answer and nearly laughed, "I get it. Oh, I get it! I get it. Oh, ho, this is rich! The Progenitor wouldn't recognize you, would it? It saw you as impure, the DNA is unrecognizable as Dalek."

"A solution was devised."

"Yes, yes, yes. Me. My testimony. So you set a trap, you knew that the Progenitor would recognize me. The Daleks' greatest enemy! It would accept my word. My recognition of you," he saw one of the Daleks turning to the panel behind it, "No, no, no. What are you doing?" he held out the cookie in warning again.

"Withdraw now, Doctor, or the city dies in flames."

"Who are you kidding?" he nearly scoffed, "This ship is a wreck, you don't have the power to destroy London."

"Watch as the humans destroy themselves."

~ 0 ~

The Dalek ship lowered a dish which collected and sent a stream of energy towards London...

~ 0 ~

A warden on the rooftop watched how all the lights of the city flashed on, "What the...? No!"

~ 0 ~

An officer tried turning off the lights inside the war room to no avail, "The generators won't switch off! The lights are on all across London, Prime Minister!"

"It's them, it's the Daleks," Avalon frowned.

"The Germans can see every inch of the city. We're sitting ducks. Get those lights out before the Germans get here!" Winston ordered the officer away, "Thousands will die if we don't get those lights out now."

"German bombers sighted over the Channel, sir," Breen called from her place, "ETA 10 minutes, sir."

"Here they come. Get a message to Mr Attlee. War Cabinet meeting at 0300-if we're all still here."

"We can't just sit here! We've got to take the fight to the Daleks!" Amy exclaimed.

"How? None of our weapons are a match for theirs."

"There has to be something we can do to help," Lena looked at her twin who was already smirking with an idea, "Ava-"

"We do have something, baby sister," she nodded, "A sort of gift...from the Daleks themselves."

~ 0 ~

"Turn those lights off now. Turn London off or I swear I will use the TARDIS self-destruct!" the Doctor warned, flashing the...cookie, again.

"Stalemate, Doctor. Leave us, and return to Earth," a Dalek instead offered.

"Oh, that's it? That's your great victory? You leave?"

"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again."

"No, no, no! I won't let you get away this time! I won't!"

After a couple noises from the machine behind the Daleks, one of the creatures spoke again, "We have succeeded - DNA reconstruction is complete."

All the Daleks glided back from the cubicle which was enveloped in red energy. The doors slid open in the midst of sparks and smoke.

"Observe, Doctor, a new Dalek paradigm!"

The Doctor watched in horror as new and larger Daleks emerged from the smoke, each bearing a different color.

"The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks! The resurrection of the master race!"

~ 0 ~

Bracewell sat in his lab with a revolver in his only hand, about to place it to his head when Winston and the women entered the room.

"Bracewell! Put the gun down!" Winston ordered.

"My life is a lie, and I choose to end it," Bracewell nodded.

"In your own time, Paisley boy," Amy said, "Because right now we need your help."

"But those creatures...my Ironsides…they made me? I... I can remember things, so many things. The last war- The squalor and the mud and the awful, awful misery of it all. What am I? What am I?"

"What you are, sir, is either on our side, or theirs. Now, I don't give a damn if you're a machine, Bracewell... Are you a man?" Winston asked.

"Yeah, listen, solve your identity issues on a later time," Avalon snatched the gun from his hand, "Cos London is being lighted up like a Christmas tree by those Daleks. Thousands of people will tonight, including my  _sister_ , and that'll happen over my own dead corpse. So you're gonna button it up and remember you're  _against_  those Daleks. You can help us take them down.'

"I am?" the man nervously asked.

"You're alien technology. You're as clever as the Daleks are, so start thinking!"

"Don't be so mean, Avalon," Amy said, moving over to the woman, "What about rockets?" she looked at Bracewell, "You got rockets? Cos you said gravity whatsits, hypersonic flight, some kind of missile."

"This isn't a fireworks party, Miss Pond!" Winston shook his head, "We need proper tactical... A missile... or...?"

"Or what?" Amy and Avalon looked at him.

"We could send something up there, you say?"

"With a gravity bubble, yes," Bracewell showed Winston the plans, "Theoretically it's possible we could actually send something into space."

"Then it's time to think big," Lena smiled with excitement.

Avalon cast an glance to her twin and discreetly smiled again.

~ 0 ~

"All hail the new Daleks! All hail the new Daleks!" an older Dalek chanted.

"Yes, you are inferior!" the white Dalek declared.

"Yes."

"Then prepare."

"We are ready!" the 'inferior' three Daleks said.

"Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!" the white Dalek said and the blue Dalek fired at two of the inferior Daleks while the red Dalek shot the last one.

"Blimey, what do you do to the ones who mess up?" the Doctor mumbled.

"You are the Doctor! You must be exterminated!" the white Dalek declared.

Once more, the Doctor flashed his self-destructing cookie to the new Daleks, "Don't mess with me, sweetheart!"

~ 0 ~

Avalon and Bracewell entered the map room, Bracewell's missing hand in a sling while Avalon pushed a chair with device on it. Bracewell also wore a homemade headset on.

"At last! Are they ready?" Winston looked at the two with an anxious expression.

"We really hope so," Avalon said as she placed the device from the chair on the desk, "But in the meantime, Bracewell had this to pick up Dalek transmissions," she slapped the side of it and a visual image appeared on the circular screen of the Doctor and the white Dalek.

"Smart you are," Lena praised her twin.

"Torchwood teaches just fine," Avalon whispered so Amy wouldn't hear that precise line.

For a couple years now, the entire Reynolds family had been in good relationships with Torchwood before it closed down. Being a not-so-regular human family, the Reynolds' parents opted for a possible helpline in case they should ever need it for their children. Against their father's will, Avalon had been educated on several non-human topics and devices by the team, learning a bit more of the Doctor in the process.

"We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race," the white Dalek was saying.

"Oh it's him, the Doctor," Amy pointed just before they heard Daleks.

"He's got company. New company. We've got to hurry up!" Lena urged, looking at Avalon, "He needs help."

Bracewell answered a ringing phone, "Yes? Right. Right, thanks!" he hung up and looked at Winston, "Ready when you are, Prime Minister."

"Splendid!"

The ship appeared on the screen, "Spaceship's exact co-ordinates located!" Bracewell informed.

"Go to it, Group Captain! Go to it!" Winston ordered a nearby man.

"Broadsword to Danny Boy! Broadsword to Danny Boy! Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!"

~ 0 ~

"Question is, what do we do now? Either you turn off your clever machine or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity," the Doctor reminded again, unaware of the blue Dalek scanning him and his cookie.

"And yourself," the white Dalek pointed out.

"Occupational hazard."

"Scan reveals nothing! TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!" the blue Dalek declared.

"Alright," the Doctor bit into his cookie, "It's a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea!"

When a siren went off, the blue Dalek moved to a scanner, "Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching! Correction. Multiple projectiles!"

"What have the humans done?" the white Dalek demanded from the Doctor.

"I don't know."

"Explain! Explain! Explain!"

Over a radio, a pilot's voice emerged, "Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."

"Oh, Winston! You beauty!" the Doctor straightened up with a bright smile.

"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Come in. Over."

"Loud and clear, Danny Boy! Big dish, side of the ship, blow it up! Over!"

"Exterminate the Doctor!" the white Dalek ordered but the Doctor quickly escaped and rushed back to the TARDIS.

~ 0 ~

"You heard him, Group Captain! Target that dish! Send in all we've got!" Winston reiterated the ordered from his place in the meanwhile the women looked at the action from the screen of the receiver.

"4-4 to Danny Boy, target the dish and stop that signal," the ground captain ordered.

"Over. Understood, sir. Over," the pilot replied, "'You can count on us! Over. '"

~ 0 ~

"OK, chaps, let's put London back under cover of darkness. Tally ho!" the pilot declared to the rest of the pilots and the squadron began firing on the Dalek ship and its dish, "Cover my back, going in close!" but the ship started firing down, able to bring down one of the planes, "Pull out, pull out."

~ 0 ~

Everyone in the map room gathered around the screen as they listened to the

pilot, "We've lost Jubilee, sir! Over."

"Beam still active, sir," the ground captain informed.

"Then send them in again!" Winston ordered.

~ 0 ~

The planes regrouped and attacked again.

"'Flintlock's down sir, and the dish seems to be protected. Over.. Danny Boy to the Doctor... only me left now. Anything you can do, sir? Over."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was now inside the TARDIS with a small microphone, "The Doctor to Danny Boy... The Doctor to Danny Boy. I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over."

"Good show, Doctor, go to it. 'Going in, wish me luck. Over. '

As the pilot made another approach, the Doctor frantically worked over the controls.

Direct hit, sir!" the ground captain informed and the entire room erupted in cheers.

~ 0 ~

On the rooftop, the warden watched as the lights went off in the entire city and sighed in relief, "Thank the Lord!" he raised his fist into the sky, "Do your worst, Adolf!"

~ 0 ~

"Danny Boy to the Doctor...going in for another attack."

"The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship! Over," the Doctor nearly fully smirked.

"What about you, Doctor?"

"I'll be OK."

Suddenly, the white Dalek appeared on the monitor, "Doctor! Call off your attack!"

"Ah-ha, what? And let you scuttle off back to the future?" the Doctor scoffed, "No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!"

"Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth."

"I'm not stupid, mate! You've just played your last card!"

"Bracewell is a bomb."

The Doctor's smiled as he faded, "You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a bone in your body!"

"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum! Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."

"No! This is my best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!"

"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"

"And if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks..." the Doctor looked to the side as he thought of the many possible ways he

could...possibly...no...

"Then choose, Doctor! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!"

The Doctor knew what he had to do of course...

With a small sigh, he picked up the microphone, "The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw."

"Say again, sir. Over."

"Withdraw! Return to Earth. Over and out."

"But sir...!"

"There's no time, you have to return to Earth now! Over!"

The Doctor set the coordinates for Earth while the pilot returned back to the planet.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran straight into the map room where he punched Bracewell to the ground, shaking his hand in pain after.

"Doctor!" Lena exclaimed with wide eyes, "That's not nice!"

Avalon, on the other hand, snorted. "And I thought  _I_  was mean," she said with a hint of a laugh.

"Ow! Sorry, Professor. You're a bomb! An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb," the Doctor mimicked it exploding with his arms.

"He's a what?" Avalon frowned.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you - a captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension!" he knelt down beside Bracewell and opened up his shirt and used his sonic to reveal mechanics underneath his skin, "Now keep down!"

There was a circular pad divided into glowing blue sections on Bracewell's chest, one of the sections turning yellow.

"Well?" Amy asked.

"I dunno, I dunno, I dunno!" the Doctor shook his screwdriver, "Never seen one up close before!"

"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Lena stepped closer when she felt Avalon's hand on her arm forcing her to stay back.

Not wired him up! He is a bomb. Walking, talking," he made another fale exploding sound effect, "The moment that flashes red."

"There's... a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire," Amy said as he stood up, "Or a red one."

"You're not helping!"

"But he was talking about his memories," Avalon began, much calmer than the other ginger, "How can he be an android or whatever if he had actual human thoughts?"

"Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain. Tell me about it. Bracewell! Tell me about your life!" he knelt beside Bracewell again.

"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time!" Bracewell shook his head.

"Tell me and prove you're human. Tell me everything."

"My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but...but there was a storm."

"And your parents? Come on! Tell me!"

"Good people. Kind people. They... They died. Scarlet fever."

"What was that like? How did it feel?"

"Please..." Bracewell hesitated to answer.

"How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me! Tell me now!"

"It hurt. It hurts, Doctor, so badly. Like a wound," Bracewell said as the second sections on his chest turned red and the third yellow, "It was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."

"Good. Remember it now, Edwin! The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad and losing them and men in the trenches you saw die... Remember it! Feel it, because you're human," the Doctor insisted as the third section turned red, "You're not like them. You are not like the Daleks!"

"It hurts! Doctor, it hurts so much!"

"Good! Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it," the fourth section turned red, "That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb, you're a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a human being!" but the fifth section turned red much to the Doctor's dismay, "It's not working, I can't stop it!"

Amy suddenly knelt down beside Bracewell, "Hey... Paisley. Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

"W... What?" Bracewell slowly looked at her.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Amy asked and the last section remained yellow, "But kind of a good hurt."

"I really shouldn't talk about her."

"Oh. There's a her," Amy looked at the others as the last section reverted to blue.

"What was her name?" the Doctor asked.

"Dorabella."

"Dorabella? It's a lovely name, it's a beautiful name," the Doctor said, assured.

"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked.

"Oh... Such a smile. And her eyes... Her eyes were so blue...Almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world... Dorabella..."

All the sections reverted to blue and disarmed the bomb, much to everyone's happiness...except for Avalon. She'd noticed the little looks Amy had given the Doctor while speaking about these fancy and whatnot...

"Welcome to the human race," the Doctor declared and smiled at Amy and the others, "You're brilliant," he said to Bracewell, "You're brilliant..." he looked at Amy, "And you..." he kissed her forehead and stood up, "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!" he rushed for the doorway of the room.

"Wait! Doctor! Wait... Wait," Bracewell sat up and the Doctor stopped, "It's too late. Gone. They've gone."

"No, no, no! They can't! They can't have got away from me again!" the Doctor slowly returned with a fallen expression.

"No, I can feel it, my mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."

The Doctor leaned against a pole, all his energy suddenly drained with sadness. Lena slowly stepped towards him with a soft smile, "You stopped the bomb, isn't that good?"

"I had a choice. And they knew I'd choose the Earth. The Daleks have won. They beat me. They've won."

"But you saved Earth, and us...again," she reminded, "Once again we stand here because of you. That's not too shabby is it?"

He looked at her and the others in the room and saw their support radiating, "No..." he slowly smiled, "I saved my little sister, that's definitely not too shabby."

"Saving the world no matter what, just like the fairy tale man would," Lena smiled knowingly. The Doctor knew what she meant and chuckled.

~ 0 ~

"So, what now, then?" Amy asked Winston as they looked over the maps.

"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond."

A woman handed Winston another communique, "Prime Minister."

"Oh, thank you," he read the document and sighed, "They hit the Palace and St Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it."

Amy saw Breen enter the room in sobs, "Is she okay?"

"What?"

"She looks very upset," Amy nodded to the woman.

"Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the Channel."

"Where's the Doctor?" Amy looked around the place, "And the twins?"

The Doctor and Lena entered the room, "Tying up loose ends, though I only have one of the twins," he gestured to the shorter brunette beside him, "I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in."

"And I actually helped," Lena beamed, "Wasn't too scared this time."

"Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!" Winston walked over as the Doctor took a cup of tea.

"Exactly," he said and sipped the cup.

"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?"

"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston. It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can."

"Stay with us, and help us win through! The world needs you."

"The world doesn't need me," the Doctor shook his head.

"No?"

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill," the Doctor made his victory sign again.

"It's been a pleasure, as always."

"Too right."

The two men hugged and Winston pulled away first, "Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, shall we say adieu?"

"Indeed. Goodbye, Miss Pond," Winston had moved on to the ginger.

"It's.. it's been amazing. Meeting you," she admitted.

"I'm sure it has!"

Amy kissed his cheek and the man moved to Lena, "I don't really know where you sister is, Miss Reynolds," he admitted.

Lena sighed, not at all surprised, "Avalon's always sneaking off. You'll probably find her either under a table or in the mess of wires...one of those two. But in all honesty it was truly nice meeting you too," she hugged the man quick, "I loved learning about you in history."

Winston chuckled and went on his way, heading for the door when Amy called...

"Oi, Churchill! TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."

Lena giggled as the Doctor nearly choked on his tea and patted his pocket which indeed was short of the key.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin!" Winston laughed and handed her the key, "Almost as sharp as me! KBO!"

Several seconds later, the Doctor held his hand for the key which Amy innocently had kept in her hand. With a disappointed frown, the ginger handed back the key.

~ 0 ~

"This is the last room so Avalon has to be in here," Lena declared as she walked into Bracewell's lab.

"I am!" the trio heard the other ginger's call, followed by, "OW!"

"Miss Reynolds, are you alright?" Bracewell bent down under a table.

"Ow," Avalon appeared on the other side of the table, one hand resting on the table and the other rubbing the top of her head, "Yes...but that hurt."

"What are you doing there?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"I lost my earring," the ginger stood up and dusted herself off, "Good news is I found it," she pushed one of her ginger locks to reveal her ears with their earrings, "I asked Bracewell to help me which he kindly did."

"And now that it's over, I know what comes next," he sighed.

"And what exactly do you think comes next?" Avalon moved around the table with a sly smile.

"It's time to de-activate me."

"Is it?" Avalon looked at the Doctor.

"Oh...yeah..." he looked at the others with a smile.

"You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business," Bracewell dejectedly said.

"No, you're dead right, Professor. 100% right. And by the time I get back here in... what, ten minutes?" the Doctor looked at the women.

"More like 15," Amy shrugged.

"Fifteen minutes, yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been... activated."

"Mhm," Lena crossed her arms and faked her best serious look.

"15 minutes?" Bracewell repeated.

"He really means 20," Avalon said, "He's got a lot of more impressions to make on me."

The Doctor sent her a mock-glare but begrudgingly accepted, "Right...and considering Avalon's lovely, cheery attitude it'll probably take me an hour..."

"Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here and prepare myself," Bracewell nodded.

"That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," Amy whispered to the group.

"My sister's got a very bad temper so it'll really take us about an hour and a half," Lena spoke up, "Or maybe two."

"Oh yes," the Doctor agreed, "So no running off, that's what I'm saying. Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl... What was her name?"

"Dorabella."

"Dorabella. On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in two hours."

Bracewell began to smile and laugh when he finally caught on to the group's charade, "Thank you, thank you, Doctor!"

"Come along, Pond! Reynolds!" the Doctor motioned for the women to follow him out, leaving a very excited Bracewell to pack a suitcase.

~ 0 ~

"So, you have enemies then?" Amy crossed her arms.

"Everyone's got enemies," the Doctor reminded.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell, Avalon's is pretty much all the criiminal justice workers and Lena...well..." Amy studied the brunette, "...nope, nothing. But you," she pointed to the Doctor, "You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies."

"Suppose so," he sighed.

"So I guess it's not really running around through time, huh?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "It's actually completely dangerous," she looked at her sister with genuine concern.

"Everything is dangerous," Lena waved off the ginger, "Doctor, you're still worried over the Daleks, aren't you?"

"I'm always worried about the Daleks," he pointed out, thinking of that line as his most underrated line of his life. They'd been the cause of the demise of his own people and planet, Rose's departure, Donna's semi-death and, well...who knows what else they'd do when they'd gained their full potential again.

"It'll take time, though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up," Amy reminded.

"It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you three have," he looked from one to another.

"Us? What do you mean?" Lena asked.

"You didn't know them. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done. You should."

With that, he entered the TARDIS with the three confused women to follow him in. Upon de-materializing, there was a hidden crack in the wall that appeared to be like Amy's in her bedroom with a light spilling from it.

~ 0 ~

Avalon and Amy stood in the console room, alone, and were currently arguing over the secret Amy had kept from the Doctor and Lena.

"Why haven't you told them you're getting married tomorrow?" Avalon demanded.

"I was getting to it!" Amy exclaimed, avoiding the woman's piercing green eyes.

"You've been here technically two days and not one word has come out of your mouth that had to do with Rory or your not? Are you planning on coming back to Earth?"

"Why are you questioning me?" Amy frowned, "You're not my mother!"

"Because I care for Rory and I hate seeing how you treat him!"

"You  _care_?" Amy raised an eyebrow, "Just how much do you care for him exactly?"

"Amy, listen to yourself," Avalon sighed, "I love Rory as a friend, we're close, he's like a brother to me. And as a sister, I don't want him marrying someone who's not sure of her own feelings."

"What are you saying?" Amy stepped forwards.

"I saw the looks you gave the Doctor today, and it's not one of platonic way. Amy if you're not entirely sure of yourself then call off the wedding before you make a mistake and hurt Rory."

"I know where my feelings lie, Avalon. You need to stop butting into my life!"

"Amy, I love you too, and I'm doing this for your own good too. Think about my words, please? Cos tomorrow, I'm gonna walk down that aisle with you as your maid of honor and when I see you walking behind I want to know that I'm part of a marriage of actual  _love_. A  _two_  way love."

"You  _are_ ," Amy assured.

"Are you sure, Amy? Are you entirely sure?"

Amy fidgeted under Avalon's gaze, "Y-yes. Now leave me alone and attend to your own life, which you have none!" she hurriedly walked away.

Avalon sighed and ran a hand through her hair, which in retrospect wasn't as swiftly as she wanted. She looked over to the doors for a minute, her eyes scanning the room as she quietly made her way over. She slowly opened the doors with caution and leaned forwards, half-smiling when she saw all those stars she'd wanted to see as a child.

She always asked her parents why they couldn't leave Earth to be in a more...advanced planet? She loved the humans and their lives but she always felt like...like things moved too  _slow_. It made her feel out of place. She wanted to see how other species worked, how their planets worked...she wanted to see it in person, not from history books or a computer screen. As advanced as their computers actually were, it didn't compare to being out there and actually living it.

"It's nice, isn't it?"

The ginger lightly gasped and jumped in place at the new voice behind her. She quickly closed the doors and turned to see the Doctor at the console, holding her purse in his hands.

"It's okay to look," he motioned for her to re-open the doors but the ginger remained in place, "I think the view is quite nice too." Avalon stayed quiet and only watched him. He sighed. "Look, I brought you back your purse," he walked over and handed her the purse, "The TARDIS moved it into a room, she's actually already made one for you," he got into thought about it.

He'd really had wandered into that new room on accident. He was still trying to find that pool room and instead stumbled upon a brand new room he knew for a fact had not been there two days ago. It was simple really, just a basic room with the necessities. He knew it was a room for Avalon and was still waiting to be properly imagined by the ginger. The box really did seemed to love her just as much as Lena and Amy.

"She can move things around?" Avalon finally spoke as she took her bag, clutching it to her chest again.

"Yes, move rooms too."

"That's why the swimming pool was in the library, then?"

He smiled at her rememberance, "Yes."

"Have you found it?"

"Uh, no. Still missing..."

Her eyes flickered to the side for a second. "Can't you just make a new one?"

"I suppose I could."

"Or maybe there's already another one but you haven't found it yet? Is that possible?"

The Doctor loved her thoughts. "Yes, it  _is_. The TARDIS is just so big I don't even know all the rooms she has."

"Oh," Avalon seemed fascinated again but she quickly pushed it away. "Look, I'm not...good...with apologies...but...in this instance, I  _am_  sorry."

"Sorry? For what, exactly?" he raised an eyebrow.

"For slapping you...and thinking you killed my sister..."

"Yes, glad we got that cleared up," the Doctor rocked on his shoes. "Because as the 'fairy tale man' that's not the right thing to do."

Avalon briefly smiled. "You know you don't have to keep obeying to that name, right? It was a stupid name I gave you when I was some stupid kid..." she rolled her eyes, clearly embarrassed.

"It's not stupid," the Doctor promised her, though his amused expression didn't quite convince her.

"Well, maybe not as stupid as 'Raggedy Man'..." Avalon got to thinking, and the Doctor easily saw some curiosity settling on her face. "You know-"

"Oh, no..." the Doctor prepared himself for another round of questions about himself, which he thought were fairly interesting considering they were questions no one really bothered to ask.

"Why  _were_ you in tattered clothes that seemed a bit...out of place?" she finished her question slowly, eyes looking him over for a second.

"It's a long story, Avalon," the Doctor released a big sigh. "But long story short, I died, basically..." Avalon's eyes widened, "There was a fight, don't know if you remember it...but in the end I saved a very good friend of mine."

"You died for them?" Avalon whispered.

"Yes."

"And so...and so you did that thing...?" Avalon made a gesture to her face.

"Regeneration," the Doctor nodded. "I changed completely in order to heal myself. The clothes you saw were my previous incarnation's clothes."

"Was he...was he older?"

"Yes..."

"So that's why they looked out of place," Avalon said to herself.

"They didn't feel right anymore," the Doctor agreed with a small chuckle.

Avalon nodded, thinking she could understand that. If his previous self was older, then perhaps he had older thoughts and styles. She wondered what he looked like, but she didn't have the courage to ask.

"Listen, Avalon," the Doctor got serious, "About Lena's disappearance...you can't be mad at her, okay? She may have not done things in the right way but she did have good intentions."

"And what were they?" Avalon asked, unable to stop the flicker of pain from crossing her heart.

"She wanted you to have the opportunity to build a life."

"I have a life!"

"Around  _her_. I mean, you don't have to tell me, but...have you ever thought about what you want to do? What are your aspirations?"

A deep scowl spread across Avalon's face. "You're sounding like everyone else."

"I'm not trying to offend you-"

"Then why  _are_  you?" she demanded.

The Doctor sighed and just stopped. Clearly, she wasn't going to get it and he thought that perhaps she'd benefit from a good rest. He  _had_  picked her up at night meaning she'd already spent her day and a night without sleep. She'd found out her sister was not dead after two years and she did meet  _space_ and  _history_. That could take a lot out of people.

"Would you like to rest?" he asked, gesturing to the corridors. Avalon's eyes flickered from him to the corridor and displayed her confusion. "What's the matter?"

"I thought...I thought you were dropping me and Lena back home. And Amy."

"Well, we could keep going a bit more, no one on Earth would know."

She lightly scoffed, "Oh be honest with yourself, Doctor. You don't want me here."

"Why not? I  _am_  asking you know," he pointed out, "And I did just say the TARDIS had a room for you already."

"I'm not gonna pretend to be what I'm not. I have a bad temper and I'm fairly rude when I want to be. I don't follow orders and I steal. You don't like thieves and I think we all know that I'm just that."

"You stole for your sister. While I don't condone it, I understand you did it for good intentions...that's why I ordered your release."

Her eyes slightly widened, "I knew the bloody queen had nothing to do with that! It was  _you_! You were there, in the hallway...I knew I saw someone there."

"Lena asked me to help you, but apart from that I  _wanted_  to help you. And you're right, I won't pretend to like what I don't. You're not the ideal companion but...you love your sister and would do anything for her. You really are adventurous and brave, clearly a lover of the stars," he gestured to the closed doors behind her and smiled, "And you take charge when needed. I'd like  _that_  Avalon to come with us."

"So...what are you saying...?" she quietly asked, biting her lip anxiously.

"If you'd like to come..." he motioned for her to finish it.

He loved the joyous shock on her face. But just as quickly as it came, she pushed it off.

"I mean...yes...yes, okay," she said as casual as possible.

"Well...welcome to the TARDIS," the Doctor proposed himself to make her change her ways so that she could openly show her true feelings without care. "Where you'll be impressed the entire time."

She chuckled. "Yeah, well, we'll see about that. I don't get impressed easily, so..." she walked past him, intending on finding that room of hers that apparently was already in existence. She stopped however, when she remembered something. She looked down at her purse and plucked out a purple guitar pin from it. "Do you have a trash?" she turned around. "It's a pin my ex-boyfriend gave me, do you mind?" she nodded to the doors.

"Uh actually there is a..." but the Doctor didn't answer as the ginger had already opened the doors and chucked the pin out, "...never mind."

"Good riddance," she spat and closed the doors.

"I probably should've asked earlier about this, but um...are you okay with that...breakup?"

She shrugged, trying to act like it didn't bother her. "He dumped me…so, whatever."

"No, not whatever," the Doctor said softly, shaking his head at her. "Amy said it was a serious relationship..."

Avalon lightly chuckled. "It's fine, I promise. But…" she shrugged and awkwardly chuckled again, "…I mean…I can't stop feeling like…" she motioned to her eyes and stomped her foot much like a child would out of frustration, "I'm sorry…"

"There is no shame in crying, Avalon. Everyone does. It's not a sign of weakness – it just makes you human."

Avalon shook her head. "It's fine, totally fine," she promised. "I'm just...I'm gonna go find my room. Sure she'll show it to me, right?" she pointed up. The Doctor nodded, but felt terrible that he wasn't doing anything to make her actually feel better. "Goodnight," Avalon struggled to keep her tears in as she smiled for him. "And...thank you."

"You're...welcome..." the Doctor said the words just for courtesy but not out of meaning. Because he truly felt like this hadn't helped her at all.


	4. The Time of Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Time of Angels is upon the Doctor and his companions, whether he knows it or not. Lucky for him, he has River Song to help...or maybe that makes him even unluckier? Who knows, but what he does know is that her apparently being good friends with Avalon is a bit unsettling seeing as River knows a lot of Avalon's future...along with his.

The Doctor strode through a medieval church-like museum, randomly pointing at displays while giving his opinions on it. Behind him strolled Amy, Avalon and Lena, looking a bit bored of the location.

"Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong," the Doctor pointed to several displays, "I love museums."

"Yeah me too, except I don't go pointing out the errors of history," Avalon remarked, "Why are we here? You promised me an alien planet. Where is it?"

"Patience," he pointed at her and Amy scoffed.

" _You_  have no patience," she informed.

"Where are we, Doctor?" Lena looked around, not at all upset with the location. It was a nice, calm place with lots of interesting artifacts. Leave it to Avalon and even Amy to be disappointed with it.

"It's the Delerium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever!" the Doctor gave a whirl with his arms extended out.

"You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?" Avalon raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that redundant? And  _boring_?"

But the man continued pointing here and there, "Wrong! Very wrong! Oooh, one of mine. Also one of mine," he peered into a display case.

"Oooh..." Avalon smirked, "I get it now. This is how you keep score. I didn't think you would be conceited about it...well...smug, but..." she trailed off when she saw the Doctor had stopped at an intriguing display holding an antique box with strange symbols on it.

"Oh great, an old box," Amy sighed this time.

"Maybe it's important," Lena offered, moving over to stand beside the Doctor. She stared at the box, tilting her head from one side to the next as she tried to read the funny symbols on the box. "Is it?"

The Doctor slowly nodded but was no longer as excited as earlier. "It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box."

"What's a Home Box?" Amy asked.

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data."

"So what's so important about this one?" Avalon questioned, making rounds on the display box.

"The writing, the graffiti - Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords."

"And let me guess,  _you're_  the only one that's supposed to know it..."

"You'd think since I am the last..." he nodded, "There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple Gods."

"What does it say?" Lena asked.

The Doctor looked up, "Hello, sweetie."

Next thing the women knew, the Doctor ripped the case off and snatched the box from its place.

"What are you doing!?" Avalon stiffened as she heard the alarms blaring, "I thought you didn't steal!"

"You rubbed off, now run!" he ordered and went first. The women ran after him with two guards coming out of the door to chase them. Just barely, the group ran inside the TARDIS where the Doctor quickly sent them off and hooked up the home box to the console.

"Why did you just steal it?" Lena asked him, completely out of breath.

"Cos someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. And here you go by the way," he took out an asthma inhaler from his jacket's pocket and handed it to the brunette.

"You carry one now?" Avalon asked, a small smile on her face.

"Course I do, my baby sister has asthma," he shrugged casually and patted Lena's head who simply rolled her eyes, "Now let's see if we can get the security playback working."

A grainy black and white footage of a woman in a dress and fairly big hair appeared on the monitor. The image switched to the woman's back facing the screen and three men standing in ahead of her.

" _The party's over, Doctor Song…_ " one of the men was saying, " _…yet still you're on board_."

The woman turned to face the men, " _Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination_."

" _Wait till she_  runs," the man told the other men behind him _"Don't make it look like an execution_."

The woman looked at her watch and started saying slowly numbers, " _Triple-seven, five…slash, three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor_."

The Doctor quickly began typing on the keyboard of the console.

"What was that, what did she say?" Amy asked, confused.

"Co-ordinates!" he exclaimed.

" _Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!_ " the woman said over the monitor.

"Ha-" Avalon laughed loudly, "-that's a good line! I'm taking that one!"

"Seriously?  _That's_ what you paid attention to!?" the Doctor shot her an incredulous glance before dashing for the doors. He yanked them open and reached out. His companions saw him being toppled over by the same woman from the video.

"Doctor?" Lena called.

"River?" the Doctor looked up at the woman on top of him. Her bushy hair was partially covering his eyes.

"Ew, get off. And follow that ship!" River Song jumped to her feet and watched the ship fly away from them.

In a one two, River and the Doctor ran back to the console and worked the controls to follow the ship. Avalon, Amy and Lena stood back and watched the two in confusion.

"They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them! Stay close!" River said.

"I'm trying!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Use the stabilizers."

"There aren't any stabilizers!"

"The blue switches!"

"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just...blue," the Doctor gestured to the blue controls.

"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilizers!" River used the stabilizers and suddenly the TARDIS went quiet, "See?"

"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers!" the Doctor frowned.

"That's not a real word," Avalon informed and noticed River giving her a small smile, "And how do you know how to fly this thing? Sorry,  _she_ ," she quickly looked up at the rotor in apology.

"You call that flying the TARDIS?" the Doctor scoffed and sat down to sulk, "Ha!"

"OK. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right along side," River informed, finishing up with the controls.

"Parked us? We haven't landed," the Doctor shot her a sharp look.

"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."

"But it didn't make the noise."

"What noise?"

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Lena raised her hands, using her inhaler once more before she imitated the TARDIS wheezing sound, making River laugh.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie but that's cos that fool over there-" she pointed to the Doctor who mock-glared at her, "-leaves the brakes on."

"What, so it's actually not supposed to make that noise?" Lena frowned.

River shook her head, "Nope."

"Serious let down..." Avalon sarcastically whispered as she turned to the Doctor with a look. "What else has been a lie?" she dramatically asked.

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise!" the Doctor jumped to his feet, purposely ignoring Avalon. "I love that noise. Come along, baby sister," he swung his arm around Lena's shoulders, "Let's have a look."

"No, wait! Environment checks," River called but the two kept going.

"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right. Environment checks," the Doctor stuck his head out the door, "Nice out."

"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt," River started reading off the screen, "There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest..."

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System," Avalon declared proudly, "Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day."

River put her hands on her hips and gave her a sharp look, "Oh and you think you're so hot when you do that, don't you?"

"I like to think I look hot  _all_ the time," Avalon triumphantly smiled. "But also, the words on the screen are big enough to see from here," River playfully rolled her eyes at the cheeky ginger.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Lena asked River as she and the Doctor returned to the console.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best," River declared, rolling her eyes when the Doctor smugly smiled.

"Well, yeah," he fixed his jacket.

"Thank you Avalon," River then said with a hint of a smirk.

"What? I don't know how to drive this," Avalon nearly laughed while the Doctor looked from one woman to the other with a frown.

"You don't?"

She shook her head, "No. I just came on board a month ago."

"Ooh..." River then understood the timelines, at least with the twins, "...right then," she picked up her red shoes, "Why did they land here?" she headed for the doors.

"They didn't land," the Doctor clarified.

"Sorry?"

"You should've checked the Home Box - it crashed," he followed her then shut the doors behind her and returned to the console.

"Doctor, who is she?" Lena asked.

"Yeah, and how did she do that museum thing?" Amy added.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it," he answered as he worked the controls, "Off we go!"

"Hold on, what are you doing?" Avalon neared him, more curious of the controls after what the woman said of driving the box.

"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

"Are you basically running away?"

"Yep."

"And why?"

"Cos she's the future."

"Can you run away from that?" Amy asked.

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me," he declared.

"Yeah  _but_..." Avalon smirked as she looked towards the doors, "I was promised an alien planet and I do believe  _that-_ ," she pointed to the doors, "-is indeed an alien planet."

The Doctor caught onto what the ginger was heading for and shook his head, "Oh no, no.  _No_ ," he pointed at her.

She put her hands on her hips and sharply looked at him, "You said ' _Avalon, I'll take you to any alien planet you want_ '. Now, you need to keep that word. I choose this one," she crossed her arms.

"Avalon, don't do that," Lena moved up beside the Doctor, "We don't even know this woman and if the Doctor wants to leave it's probably for a good reason."

"Amy?" Avalon looked at the other ginger, knowing she was just as adventurous at times as she was, "What do you say?"

"Well..." Amy played with her fingers.

"No, Amy, no," the Doctor threw his head back in frustration, "Why can't you be obedient like Lena is?"

"Because we're gingers," Avalon declared, "We're feisty. I want this planet."

He sighed, "Fine,  _five_  minutes. You get five minutes and then we're off," he warned.

"We'll see about that," Avalon ruffled his hair and rushed for the doors, Amy right behind her.

Lena giggled, "We should go and take care of them."

~ 0 ~

The ship they had been following had crashed on the top of a large and old stone structure. It was burning in certain areas with bits of debris on the ground and around the TARDIS.

River Song stood several inches from the TARDIS. She was gazing between her handheld device and the scenery. "What caused it to crash? Not me," Avalon laughed.

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor explained, "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase-shift. No survivors."

"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them," River shrugged.

"About what?"

"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries," she started keying something into her handheld device.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy asked the Doctor, the twins nodding in agreement.

"Amy Pond, Avalon and Lena Reynolds, Professor River Song," the Doctor gestured.

River turned to them with a small gasp, "Ahhh, I'm going to be a  _professor_  some day, am I?" the Doctor winced at his little slip, "How exciting!" she laughed, "How exciting! Spoilers!" she turned back to what ever it had she'd been doing.

"Oh no, no, no there's something more here," Avalon looked at the Doctor with a smirk, "She left you a note in a museum...who is she?" but the Doctor walked off instead of answering.

"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum: The Home Box of category four starliner and, sooner or later, him," River informed, "It's how he keeps score."

"I know!" Avalon laughed, moving over to the woman.

"It's hilarious, isn't it?"

Avalon nodded, "It's so stupid!"

The Doctor came up behind the two with a sarcastic laugh, "I'm nobody's taxi service! I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship," he informed River.

"And you are so wrong...if you want to keep on the good side of the..." she shut her mouth and simply smiled, "There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die. Now he's listening!" she started speaking into the device, "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she held up the device and looked at the Doctor, "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

The Doctor begrudgingly took out the sonic screwdriver and used it on the woman's device.

"Ooh, Doctor! You soniced her!" Amy teased him.

"We have a minute. Shall we?" River opened her diary and skimmed the pages, "Apparently far earlier days," she mumbled to herself, "Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

"What's the book?" Avalon asked her.

"Stay away from it," the Doctor warned.

"Is that a journal?" Avalon ignored him, "You like to write?"

"Mm, not so much. It's more a necessity," River explained.

"It's her past," the Doctor began, gesturing to the diary, "And my-"

"Not just yours," River reminded, seeing this version was much younger than the last. Oh she truly hated the man's thoughts about her in these early days.

"Yes, but you never say who else's," the Doctor rolled her eyes.

"Clearly I can't tell, now can I?" she raised an eyebrow, "We meet in the wrong order and I won't corrupt the timelines."

Four columns of swirling dust appeared behind them and emerged to be four soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms, the leader immediately walking to River, "You promised me an army, Doctor Song."

"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor."

The man, Octavian, shook the Doctor's hand, "Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

"Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asked and the Doctor immediately tensed.

~ 0 ~

Later in the night, a transport ship had arrived and more soldiers had set up a camp. Octavian strode across the ground follow by the group, "The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this," he showed another handheld device, "Behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."

"Oh, good," the Doctor mumbled.

"Good, sir?"

"Catacombs, probably dark ones. Dark catacombs, great!"

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead."

Lena frowned, already fearing the place, "You can stop any time you like, you know."

"Father Octavian?" a soldier called.

"Excuse me, sir," Octavian said before leaving the group.

The Doctor waved him off then used his screwdriver on some of the equipment on the table.

"You're letting people call you "sir". Don't take you for a man who does that," Avalon remarked as she helped Lena sit on the table.

"What's a Weeping Angel?" Lena asked.

"And is it bad?" Amy added, "Like really bad?"

"Hm, now that's interesting..." he turned to the three women, "You're still here. Which part of ' _Wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe_ ' was so confusing?"

"Which part of I don't follow orders was so confusing?" Avalon countered, a small smirk on her face.

"Ooh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" Amy teased and Avalon laughed, Lena simply shaking her head with a small sigh.

"A Weeping Angel is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in with a screwdriver and a torch-and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face-do something clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

"Is River Song your wife?" Amy tilted her head, the man nearly strangling her out of frustration. Between she and Avalon he really didn't know who would end up killing him out of frustration first.

"She's got a point though," the second ginger, of course, had to add, "Cos she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've not seen anyone do that."

"Yeah, she's kinda like, you know, "Heel, boy!"" Amy nodded, "She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"

"You guys are being nosy," Lena scolded, hopping off the table and moving beside the Doctor, "And rude."

"Thank you," the Doctor said to Lena, "And yes, I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today."

"Don't be, it's not a good face on you," Lena wagged a finger.

"Doctor? Doctor!" River called from a transport.

"Oops! Her indoors!" Amy exclaimed and she and Avalon laughed.

"Father Octavian!" River called.

"Why do they call them Father?" Lena asked the Doctor, the two leaving the laughing gingers.

"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st Century, the Church has moved on."

~ 0 ~

The group stood inside the transport ship with a large screen and monitors at the end of the room. A black and white footage of a Weeping Angel with its hands over its eyes was being watched, River controlling the video with a remote.

"What do you think? It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault," she said, "I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop."

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face," the Doctor nodded.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked.

"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving."

"But this is just a statue," Amy shrugged.

"It's a statue when you see it," Lena informed, giving up on the normal human charade from now on.

"What?" Amy looked at her.

"Dad used to tell us this story to scare us," Avalon smiled and shook her head, "But it didn't scare me."

"I bet it didn't," River nudged her.

"Nothing scares me, River Song. If we're going to be meeting you with the Doctor, then it's one thing you should know."

"So where did it come from?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time," River explained.

"There's a difference between dormant and patient," the Doctor corrected.

"What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy looked between them in confusion. Nothing anyone said was making sense, especially the twins!

"The story went that Weeping Angels could only move if they were unseen," Lena explained to her friend, understanding it could be quite confusing.

"Oh it's not a legend, baby sister," the Doctor sighed, missing the confusion one of his ginger companions wore, "It's a quantum lock. In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism."

"What, being a stone?" Amy scoffed, "Statues can't really move, Doctor. Don't know how that went by in your place."

"It's stone, Amy, until you turn your back on them," Avalon informed, dead quiet as she cast her twin a concerned look. She wanted Lena no where near those awful creatures.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was leading the group out of the transport while speaking to Octavian, "The hyperdrive would've split on impact. The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing."

"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked, well  _hoped_.

"Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow," the Doctor said.

"Is there anyone around this place?" Avalon asked suddenly, "Anyone in danger of with this thing nearby?"

River was already on it and began reading what her device was saying to her, "The Aplans built the temple, the indigenous life-form. But they died out 400 years ago."

"200 years later, the planet was terraformed," Octavian added, "Currently there are six billion human colonists."

"You lot, you're everywhere! Like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you," the Doctor amusingly smiled and shook his head.

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population..." Octavian trailed off, pausing when the Doctor nodded, his amused smile no longer on his face.

"Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"

Octavian nodded and started with his commands, "Verger, how we doing with those explosives? Dr Song, with me."

"Two minutes," River waved him off as he walked away, "Ava, I need you."

Avalon froze and looked after River, "Hold on..." she went after the woman, the Doctor closely behind the ginger, "...why did you call me that?"

"Call you what?" River asked as she looked through books on a desk.

"Ava, only one person calls me that and it's most certainly not you," Avalon said, quite serious.

"I know him, silly," River waved her off, still trying to find that blasted book.

"I told you, she's from the future," the Doctor explained again.

"Yeah but she's from  _your_  future," the ginger pointed at him.

"And you're in it," River turned to them with a big grin.

"But so is Amy and Lena," Avalon reminded.

"Right, yes, Lena is called 'Lena' sometimes and when you seriously want to anger Amy, you call her 'Amelia'."

"How do you know all that?" Avalon stepped back, severely disliking the fact a woman she didn't know apparently knew all about her and her sister and friend.

River's grin only widened as she picked up the book she'd been looking for, "Don't fret. One day you'll all figure it out."

With a small irritated frown, Avalon looked back at the Doctor, "Now I get why you're so irritated with her."

The Doctor nodded silently.

~ 0 ~

"No one needs me," Amy paced back and forth inside the transport ship, Lena sitting in a chair with her legs crossed.

"I need you," Lena raised a hand with a small smile, getting one back from Amy, "And Rory. How is Rory, by the way?"

Amy stopped pacing and kept to the side, for some reason really hoping the topic of Rory wouldn't ever come into conversation...well not forever...maybe just...a couple more months?

"Amy?" Lena called again, "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yes, but hey, I'd like to know something," Amy faced her, hoping to change the subject, "How do you and Avalon know about the Weeping Angels? I'm pretty sure that wasn't one of the fairy tales Avalon has in her room."

"Amy I'm going to share my family's biggest secret with you, alright? I really hope you don't get angry with us," Lena announced and Amy nodded, "We're actually humans from the future. Our parents were born on another planet called New Earth." Amy's mouth fell open, no words emerging. "Our several times grandparents were actually from a livestock in a hospital the Doctor managed to save and cure from every disease. Our specific species is actually quite immune to most diseases out there. Well,  _I'm_  not immune to the diseases which is why I'm actually weaker than Avalon and the rest of my family."

"But you said it was just a-"

"Forget everything we said cos it was a lie. My immune system didn't develop quite right and mutated. I'm prone to get more sick and tired than the normal species."

"So all this time you and Avalon...weren't humans..." Amy breathed.

"We are, just from the future," Lena shrugged, "We're evolved Humans."

"Lena that's...that's..." but Amy trailed off as she noticed the screen above the brunette where the Weeping Angel image was.

Lena followed her gaze up to the screen and frowned, "What's wrong?"

~ 0 ~

River was busy showing the Doctor and Avalon a book in her hands, "I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."

The Doctor took the book from her and finished it up, "Not bad, bit slow in the middle, didn't you hate his girlfriend? No, hang on, wait, wait!" and he sniffed the book.

"Why did you just sniff that? What  _possible_  information can you get from  _sniffing_  the book?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, River snickering beside her.

Amy popped her head out of the transport, "Dr. Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?" she called.

"No, just the four seconds," River answered absently.

Puzzled, Amy returned to the ship.

"This book is wrong! What's wrong with this book, it's wrong," the Doctor shook the book in frustration.

~ 0 ~

"Amy, what is it?" Lena insisted but the ginger just came back inside and forced her to stand away from the monitor, "Amy?"

"The Angel..." was all Amy could say as she focused on the video. The Angel was now facing forwards with its hands down at its side. Amy moved closer to the screen and bent over to see the time code.

"It just... _changed_..." Lena blinked as she caught the problem.

With the two so focused, neither noticed the door close and lock behind them.

~ 0 ~

"Give me that," Avalon snatched the book from the Doctor and started skimming a few pages, the Doctor frowning at her rudeness, neither noticing how River observed them both.

"That was not nice," the Doctor pointed at the ginger.

"Get that finger out of my face before I bite it," she warned quietly as she read a couple lines.

"You wouldn't dare-" but he quickly jerked his hand away from her after she suddenly leaned forwards and actually tried sinking her teeth into his finger. He took a step away from her with wide eyes, "Are you human or a Parana?"

She plainly shrugged, "Don't know. Go ahead and find out," she flashed a smirk before flipping to the next page.

"Don't you dare either of you," River playfully rolled her eyes, "Not with those baby faces."

"What are you talking about?" Avalon asked, both she and the Doctor sending River a confused glance.

River simply smiled at the pair, "How early is this for you?"

"Very early," the Doctor replied.

"Ah, so very early for you too," River nodded to Avalon, "So no one knows who I am yet?"

"How do you know who  _I_  am?" the Doctor curiously asked, "I don't always look the same."

"I've got pictures of all your faces. Neither of you ever show up in the right order though."

"Neither?" the Doctor had caught that last word, glancing at Avalon who had become too engrossed in the book to be paying attention. He blinked when River just sent him a small wink and smirk, prompting a small blush on his face.

"Dr. Song, why aren't there any pictures in this book?" Avalon suddenly asked, only seeing River still smirking at the man as she moved over to the ginger.

~ 0 ~

Amy had picked up the remote of the video and tried turning it off but the image kept coming back.

"If it's just a recording then how can it move?" Lena questioned, already moving back from it.

Amy instead moved forwards and peered at the screen, setting the remote down, "Maybe it's... _not_...just a recording?" she mumbled.

"Try the plug," Lena pointed and Amy went down to unplug the power source, "Amy it's moved!" Lena nearly shouted when the two had looked back up to see the Angel's face close to the camera, "We need to get out of here!" she rushed to the door first, "Avalon!" she exclaimed.

Amy tried opening the door but found it wouldn't budge. She looked back at the screen and saw the Angel with its mouth open like a predator, her eyes widening, "Doctor!"

~ 0 ~

"This whole book warns about the Weeping Angels and yet not one picture is given as a visual description," Avalon was explaining to River.

"There was a bit about images," River mumbled as she tried finding it on the page.

"Yes! I remember that, hang on..." the Doctor took the book from Avalon and flipped through it until he found the correct page, "That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel.'"

"What does that mean? ' _An image of a Angel becomes itself an Angel_ '," River looked at Avalon, knowing if anyone could figure out a quote it would definitely be her.

"Simple, they're saying an Angel can literally come to..." Avalon blinked, her eyes widening, "... _life_." She remembered where Lena was at the current moment. "Lena!" she dashed back for the door of the transport ship.

~ 0 ~

Amy was punching the keypad while Lena pounded on the door, desperately crying out for help, "Avalon! Avalon!"

~ 0 ~

The small trio ran to the door and found the door locked up.

"Lina? Are you alright!? What's happening!?" Avalon struggled with the door.

~ 0 ~

"It's the Angel!" Lena exclaimed.

"Doctor! Doctor, it's coming out of the television," Amy added, "The Angel is here."

~ 0 ~

"Lena, remember the story, don't take your eyes off it!" Avalon instructed and looked at the Doctor frantically, "Do something, please!"

He had already taken out his screwdriver and tried using it on the keypad, "The Angel can't move if you're looking at it," he called to the girls inside, " What's wrong? It's deadlocked."

River was busy trying to override the controls to the side, "There is no deadlock."

"Don't blink, Amy, Lina. Don't even blink!" he ordered the girls.

~ 0 ~

"What are you doing?" Avalon asked the man as he tried something new with the screwdriver.

"Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off," he explained and then sighed, "It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system."

"There's no deadlock," River reminded.

"Well there is one now!" Avalon snapped.

"Help us!" Amy and Lena cried together from the inside.

"Amy! Can you turn it off?" the Doctor tried asking but they kept shouting together, "The screen, can you turn it off?"

"I tried," Amy responded.

"Try again but don't take your eyes off the Angel."

"We're not!" Lena assured.

"Just don't look at the eyes," Avalon suddenly warned, " not the eyes.

"Why?" Amy asked.

'What is it, Ava?" River stopped her work, knowing there was something she and the Doctor had apparently missed in the book.

""The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter there," Avalon recited and stepped back from the door, "Lena, don't look into its eyes, you too Amy!"

~ 0 ~

But Amy immediately went for the eyes while Lena made sure to look at its clothing instead.

~ 0 ~

"And step away from the door," Avalon ordered.

"What? Why?" Amy asked.

"I'm Avalon, Amy. Why do you think?"

~ 0 ~

Inside, the two women looked at each other and hurried up to the monitors, still looking at the Angel of course.

~ 0 ~

"What are you going to do..." the Doctor tried asking but River had already pulled him away from the door.

Avalon whipped out a small squarness gun from the inside of her boot and shot straight at the door, blasting a big hole inside, "Lena!" she cried and dropped the gun before running inside for her twin.

"Avalon!" Lena rushed over and encased the ginger in a tight hug, "Thank you!"

"It's okay now, it's okay," Avalon kissed her sister's head, "You didn't look at the eyes, right?" she pulled away and studied her sister.

"No, I listened," she assured.

"What the hell was that?" the Doctor entered the room with a big scolding face.

"Uh...hello..." Amy waved from her spot, still looking at the Angel for everyone's sake, "A little help would be nice."

"Anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel," Avalon recited and hurried up to the desk and picked up the remote, pausing it when static appeared, "There," River went ahead and unplugged the screen.

"Amazing!" River praised and hugged the ginger.

"I try to be," Avalon laughed, but really out of fear for her sister...though no one would ever know that.

"Uh, hello?" the Doctor waved the squareness gun in his hand, "How? What? And where?"

"I found it inside my room..." Avalon cleared her throat and innocently wrapped her fingers around her curls.

The Doctor tilted his head, his eyes hardening on the ginger's blatant lie. "Really?"

"I know what I'm doing!"

"And you just carry it around in your  _shoe_?"

"Do I have my purse?" she gestured to her free arms.

"Yes, but... _shoe_?  _Gun_?"

"Oh give it up, you carry a  _screwdriver_. Least people know what my weapon does!"

"Okay, before we get into more bickering..." River stepped between the two, hands apart to keep those two apart, "...how's about that Angel? Was that it?"

"That was a projection of the Angel," the Doctor answered in a mutter, "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant. And  _I'm_  keeping this," he waved to Avalon her gun.

"But that's mine!" the ginger tried lunging for it but River kept her back while the Doctor simply rose the weapon with his hand, "You can't do that!"

"My TARDIS, my companion, my decision," he informed.

"I'm gonna kill you!" she declared and continued her attempts to get her hands on him.

River just laughed as she tried pushing the ginger back gently, "Oh, the first of many."

The group rushed out of the transport ship upon hearing an explosion that had managed to rock them.

"It's gone positive!" a soldier called out.

"Doctor! We're through!" Octavian announced.

"Okay, now it starts," the Doctor mumbled and headed outside, a very peeved Avalon behind him with her twin at her side.

Amy rubbed her left eye before following, River catching the action, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. There's just...something in my eye."

~ 0 ~

The group found themselves climbing down a rope ladder where Octavian and several more soldiers awaited. Once at the bottom, the Doctor and Octavian burned their torches to look around.

"Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor questioned.

"Grav globe," Octavian ordered and was given a sphere from one of the soldiers.

"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asked as River stood beside her.

"It's an Aplan mortarium. Sometimes called a maze of the dead," River replied.

"And what's that?" Lena, with a shaky voice, asked.

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." the Doctor trailed off as he kicked the gravity sphere as if it was a football and it rise into the air where it stopped and showed the number of stone statues, "The perfect hiding place..." the Doctor mumbled.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian breathed as he saw the millions of statues.

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor nodded.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."

"A needle in a haystack," Avalon offered, moving closer to Lena's side. One Weeping Angel was bad enough and now she had to protect her sister from a Weeping Angel in hiding? She'd be a little more at ease if a certain alien hadn't kept her gun...

"A needle that looks like hay," the Doctor began, "A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues. No, yours was fine."

"Of course it was," Avalon waved him off.

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber," Octavian gave the orders, "You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question - how do we fight it?

"We find it, and hope," the Doctor declared and walked off, Amy following.

"From this point on, you do  _not_  let go of my hand, got it?" Avalon had taken hold of Lena's hand and put quite a grip on it.

"Got it," Lena nodded and so they went off as well.

River had tried to go and follow the group but Octavian grabbed her by the arm and held her back, "They don't know yet, do they?" Octavian asked her, "What you are...?"

"It's too early in their time streams," River mumbled.

"Well, make sure he doesn't work it out, or he's not gonna help us," Octavian warned.

"I won't let you down. Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison. But you better keep your mouth shut with her, not ONE word, understood?"

"Suppose that's fair," Octavian let her go.

A soldier walked up to the two, "Sir? Side chamber. One visible exit."

"Check it out. Angelo, go with him."

The two soldiers nodded and walked off to check the chamber.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was shining his torch in every direction before moving, the twins closely behind. Amy was moving to follow as well when she stopped to look at the numerous levels up above. She rubbed the corner of her eye with a finger and found a small grit. She used her entire hand and sand and grit came out through her fingers. Afraid, she stopped immediately and studied her hand to find nothing.

River had walked up beside the girl and looked at her, "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy forgot the moment and shrugged, "So, what's a maze of the dead?"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls..." River paused and shook her head, "OK, that was fairly bad. Right give me your arm," she showed the ginger a syringe with a smile, "This won't hurt a bit."

Amy yelped upon being shot, "Ow!" she shot the woman a small glare.

That  _had_ hurt.

"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabilise," River shrugged then turned for the others, "Oi, twins! Come here a sec," she waved the syringe.

The two Reynolds came towards the women, still hand-in-hand as Avalon had ordered, "What is it?" Avalon frowned, disliking any needles that went near her sister.

"It's a viro-stabilize," River repeated, "It stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship, no matter how evolved you are."

Avalon held her own arm first, "Go ahead."

"Does it hurt?" Lena frowned, flinching when Avalon was shot, though the ginger only crinkled her nose.

"No," Avalon replied and gently lifted her arm for River. River injected Lena who flinched badly again. Avalon rubbed the spot where Lena had been injected and looked at River, speaking very quietly, "You know he's listening to us, right?" she made a small nod to the Doctor who was conspicuously reading off River's device a few feet ahead of them.

"He thinks he's so clever," River rolled her eyes, "Ask me a question, any of you," she looked at the three.

"Um..." Lena thought, "What's my big brother like in the future?"

"Cos you know him in the future, don't you?" Amy joined in.

"The Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor," River answered, hiding her smirk from the man behind the women.

"Oh, well that's very helpful. Mind if we write that down?" Avalon asked.

"Yes, we are."

"Sorry, what?" the Doctor finally turned to them, still 'reading' from the device.

"Talking about you," River shook her head.

"I wasn't listening, I'm busy."

"Yeah, you might want to turn that the  _other_  way," Avalon swayed on her feet, "Just a suggestion."

"Oh, shut up," he frowned and turned away, this time actually focusing on his work.

"Just a heads up, he's big on eavesdropping," River nudged the ginger and walked around the three women for her own work.

"What's that got to do with me?" Avalon frowned and looked at the other two.

Lena shrugged, "You talk a lot when you write, maybe that's it."

"Still doesn't make sense," Amy mumbled, "Anything that women says, actually. She acts like his wife and then she gives these little hints..."

"Hints of what?" the twins asked together.

"Nothing," Amy moved around them as well, seemingly upset about something.

She actually liked that River person, despite the Doctor's apparent uneasy feelings on the woman. River seemed funny, she seemed sneaky and flirty. She moved around like she was practically married to the Doctor but then...she'd say these little things, like her last words to Avalon, that made Amy confused...upset. River was from the future, that was a fact, and because of that she knew exactly who ended with who in the future...

Amy had a little desire for the Doctor's 'who' to be  _herself_...just for a tiny bit...nothing permanent.

But for some reason, River kept leaning more to Avalon and that bothered Amy. Avalon had always had a much closer relationship to Rory and Amy believed that when Rory actually confessed his feelings to her that the relationship with Avalon would sort of...waft down a bit.

That wasn't the case.

Rory and Avalon were always super duper close, sharing laughs and whatnot, even sports! Rory  _hated_  sports! But because Avalon liked them, so did he...just to make her happy. Amy had heard repeatedly from Lena that Avalon had only a platonic love for Rory, like a brother, and nothing more beyond that. But there was always a bit of doubt Amy had for Lena's words...and somehow that made her shift a little more to the Doctor for some reason. Technically, he had landed in  _her_  garden, in  _her_ backyard; Avalon was only a guest at that time. She can't also take the alien, no! Amy knew she didn't want anything permanent, something real, with the Doctor but perhaps a little...adventure...wouldn't be so bad.

Avalon couldn't have him too, no sir.

~ 0 ~

"Once hearing gunfire, the group ran back down to the main chamber where a young cleric stood, having just fired the weapon at a statue. The Doctor quickly moved up to see but only saw a regular stature.

"Sorry. Sorry, I thought... I thought it looked at me," the cleric nervously said, still shaking a bit.

"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian, rather rudely, asked.

"No, sir."

"No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."

"Don't be rude," Lena spoke up, getting everyone's attention.

Usually she'd be all for staying behind everyone and letting them do their things but the man had been clearly afraid and simply shot to save his life. She could empathize because she practically lived to be afraid of things. She'd never once been reprimanded for her fears, not even by Mels and that was saying something as the woman lived to make trouble.

"I bet if you were afraid you would've shot too," she said to Octavian then looked at the cleric, "Are you okay?" the cleric nodded with a small smile, appreciative that someone wasn't irritated with him.

"My baby sister has a point," the Doctor agreed, "What's your name?" he asked the cleric.

"Bob, sir."

"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob."

"It's a Sacred Name. We all have Sacred Names, they're given to us in the service of the Church," Octavian explained.

"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" the Doctor playfully teased the cleric.

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on," the Doctor declared and took Lena's hand, quite forcefully from Avalon who shot him a small glare for it.

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Octavian said then looked to Bob, "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."

~ 0 ~

"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse? There's a whole ship up there," Amy kept looking up every time she remembered where they were.

"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River remarked, not at all perturbed.

"Had dinner with their chief architect once," the Doctor said, "Two heads are better than one."

"You mean you helped him?" Lena looked at him.

"No, I mean he had two heads. That book, the very end, what did it say?"

"Hang on," River took the book out of her backpack and handed it to Avalon while she re-closed her bag.

"Read it to me," the Doctor ordered.

Avalon rolled her eyes but did as told. She wasn't very pleased he'd taken her twin from her but did, nonetheless, know that he would protect Lena like she would. She just wasn't quite used to sharing the job with anyone else, except her family of course. Avalon flipped to the last page of the book she held and started reading aloud, " _What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels._ "

~ 0 ~

"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb," Amy sighed as they walked.

"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul," River explained, "Only two levels to go."

"I'm getting tired," Lena complained.

"I'd recommend a rest spot but this may not be the ideal place," the Doctor said.

"Perhaps the city?" Lena joked.

"How about the Aplans? We could visit them some time."

"I thought they were all dead?" Avalon reminded.

"So's Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."

"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is..." River trailed off as she kept looking around, something in the pit of her stomach telling her to get them out, apart from the regular danger that always came with the Doctor.

"Yeah, something wrong. Don't know what it is yet either, working on it," the Doctor casually waved her off, "Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you. Erm, no offence, Bishop."

Octavian just made a face at those words, "Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor."

They arrived at a narrow passage lined with statues on either side.

"Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way," Octavian pointed.

"Church had a point, if you think about it. The divorces must have been messy," Amy chuckled.

However, the Doctor suddenly stopped and closely looked at a statue, his eyes widening when he realized it, "Oh!"

"What's wrong?" Lena asked.

River also blinked as the light bulb lit up in her head, "Oh!" she looked at the Doctor.

"Exactly," he nodded, slowly pulling Lena behind him.

"How could we not notice that?" River did the same with Avalon, though that particular ginger wasn't too fond of the idea. She was never the one to go behind people's back for protection. She hated it!

"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick," the Doctor said.

"Speak for yourself!" Avalon exclaimed, forcefully moving beside River.

"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian asked.

"Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are," the Doctor instructed, "Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger."

' _What_ danger?" Avalon's eyes immediately fell to her twin.

"The Aplans," River explained.

"What about them?" Amy asked, confused on what was so important.

"They've got two heads."

"Yes, we get that. So?"

"Oh..." Avalon's eyes widened, now realizing the problem.

"Oh  _what_?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"The statues-" the Doctor began, "- _don't_ have two heads," the ginger's eyes widened, "Everyone, over there. Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak," everyone moved to a spot with no statues, "OK. I want you all to switch off your torches."

"You're kidding me?" Avalon shot him a sharp look.

"Just do it," he reiterated. Everyone turned off their torches except for him, "OK. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."

"Are you sure about this?" Lena looked at him, unlike her twin with a nervous face.

"No."

"You make me feel so much better, brother."

The Doctor shrugged and switched off his torch for only a split second. Upon turning it back on, they saw all the statues in front of them FACING them unlike their previous position.

"Oh, my God! They've moved!" Amy gasped as the Doctor ran ahead.

Quickly, the rest of the group followed the Doctor and saw all the statues lining their way to the ship, "They're Angels. All of them!" he exclaimed.

"But they can't be," River breathed.

"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor backtracked and saw the Angels moved forward, "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."

~ 0 ~

"There was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear," River was saying to the group.

"Could they have been here already?" Lena offered.

"The Aplans, how did they die out?" the Doctor asked.

"Nobody knows..." River blinked with realization.

" _We_ know," Avalon scoffed.

"They don't look like Angels, though," Octavian pointed out.

Amy nodded in agreement, "And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."

"They're dying. Losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving," the Doctor sighed.

"Losing their image," Amy shrugged.

"And their image is their power. Power. Power!"

"Doctor?" Lena frowned at his almost excitement. This was not the time for him to get excited over a dangerous situation!

"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident - it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up."

"We need to get out of here fast," River snapped, almost angry. How could she be so stupid and call him and the girls in? Granted, she believed a much older version of them would come to help out. But no, to her luck the baby-faced group had turned up and now were in danger because of her miscalculation. Oh, she was just awful!

Octavian had begun speaking into his radio, "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!"

"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!"

"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."

The Doctor's head snapped over to Octavian and he quickly moved to take the radio from him, "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"

Octavian frowned, "I'm talking to my..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!"

"I'm on my way up to you, sir, I'm homing on your signal," Bob said.

"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"

"Snapped their necks, sir."

"That's not how Angels kill you," Avalon frowned, "At least that's not what dad used to tell us. They displace you in time."

"Unless they needed the bodies for something," the Doctor mumbled, about to speak into the radio when Octavian snatched it from him.

"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."

The Doctor took back the radio and gave him a look, "Don't be an idiot! The Angels don't leave you alive!" he then spoke into the radio, "Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too," Bob said, much to the group's shock.

Slowly, the Doctor spoke into the radio again, "What do you mean the Angel killed you too?"

"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."

"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."

"So when you say you're on your way up to us..."

"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."

"No way out."

"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Octavian exclaimed, shooing the women.

"Go, go, go. All of you run!" the Doctor agreed.

"But we can't..." Lena frowned.

"Here," he took out her asthma inhaler and placed it in her palm, "Now you can. I'm coming, just go, go, go!"

The women ran off with the clerics, leaving the Doctor and Octavian alone.

"Called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's no way we could have rescued your men," the Doctor said to Octavian, genuinely sorry for his choice of words.

"I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families," Octavian walked off.

The Doctor shook his head and spoke into the radio again, "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"

"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring."

"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you," he quickly ran along the passage and saw Amy just waiting, "Don't wait for me, go, run."

"I can't!" she cried and the Doctor hurried back to help her, "No, really I can't."

"Why not?"

"Look at it. Look at my hand. It's stone!" Amy looked down at her hand on the rail, seeming like stone.

River, Octavian, the twins and the other clerics arrived at an open chamber where they could see the ship above them.

"Well. There it is - the Byzantium," Octavian looked up.

"Well, it's got to be 30 feet. How do we get up there?" River asked.

"Check all these exits. I want them all secure."

The Doctor was flashing his torch in Amy's eyes and sighed, "You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you? What did Avalon say?"

"I couldn't stop myself. I tried. I don't do orders either," the ginger frowned.

"Listen. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

"It is. Look at it!" Amy nearly shouted, but really how could he not see it?

"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't, OK? I've tried and I can't. It's stone."

The Doctor's torchlight began flickering, alerting him the Angel was nearing, "The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!"

"I can't," the ginger whimpered.

"Then we're both going to die!"

"You're not going to die."

"They'll kill the lights," the Doctor reminded her as the light flickered off and the Angels moved closer.

"You've got to go, you know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen," Amy reminded, deciding to believe that it was River who he'd end up with in the future, "You know you can't die here!"

"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that," the Doctor reminded as Amy looked back at the Angels, "Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink."

"Run!" Amy exclaimed.

"You see, I'm not going, I'm not leaving you here."

"I don't need you to die for me, Doctor, do I look that clingy?"

"You can move your hand," the Doctor said.

"It's stone!"

"It's not stone!"

"Those people up there will die without you. River, Avalon, your baby sister! If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."

"Amy Pond, you are magnificent. And I'm sorry."

"It's OK. I understand. You've got to leave me."

"Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this," and then the Doctor bit her hand, making the ginger scream in pain and jerk her hand away, "See, not stone. Now run!"

"You bit me!" she accused, rubbing her hand.

"Yep and you're alive," the Doctor reminded.

"I've got a mark! Look at my hand!" she held her hand for him yo see but he used it to yank her behind him.

"Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?"

"Blimey, your teeth! Have you got space teeth?"

"Alive. All I'm saying," he concluded and ran off with her.

~ 0 ~

A cleric sent off to check passages returned to the group, "The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."

"They all do," Octavian reminded.

"So does the gravity globe,' River added.

"Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming," Octavian gave the warning.

"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves," the Doctor explained while he looked for another way out.

"Which means we won't be able to see them," Avalon mumbled, her hand gripping Lena's, "And we can't stay here so do something, please!"

"There are more incoming!" Octavian exclaimed.

"Any suggestions?" River looked around for ideas.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian reminded.

"There's no way up, no way back, no way out," she looked at the Doctor, her heart racing as she thought of the full-on danger No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea.

"There's always a way out," he said and heard his echo. The lights flickered off again and the Angels appeared far too close for their liking, "There's always a way out," he repeated, assured.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?" Angel Bob's voice came through the radio.

Bitterly, the Doctor took hold of the radio and spoke, "Hello, Angels. What's your problem?"

"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."

"Why are you telling me this?" the Doctor looked at the group, feeling awful of the horror he saw in Lena's face. The girl really wasn't up for this kind of adventures. He himself didn't like this! He assured Avalon he'd help protect her because in reality he had grown attached to the little brunette, she really did remind him of a little sister and this was not how he wanted to care for her.

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end," Angel Bob brought the Doctor out of his thoughts.

"Which is?"

"I died in fear."

"I'm sorry?"

"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."

"What are they doing?" Avalon whispered to River, seeing the Doctor tense at the words being said.

"They're trying to make him angry," River replied.

"Is that very smart?"

"Not really."

"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that," Angel Bob said.

"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass," the Doctor snapped, "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."

"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."

"Yeah, I'm trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!"

"What mistake, sir?"

But the Doctor ignored the Angel and looked at Amy, "Trust me?"

"Yeah," the ginger nodded.

He looked at the twins, "Trust me?"

"Of course," Lena replied, Avalon nodding in agreement.

He looked at River next but before he could even repeated the question she nodded, "Oh I do," she answered.

"You lot - trust me?" he looked at Octavian and the clerics.

"Sir, two more incoming!" one of the cleris guarding the passage reported.

"We have faith, sir," Octavian answered.

"Great," he took out Avalon's gun much to the ginger's shock.

"Oi, that's mine!" she tried reaching for it but River held her back.

"You said you trusted me," he reminded.

"But not with that! You don't know the first thing about them!"

"Oh, but I do..." he mumbled quietly, his gaze falling for a moment.

Avalon stopped as she saw him, feeling there was something he was hiding and a painful something by the looks of it. She sighed, "Fine, go ahead," she motioned for him to do whatever he was planning.

"Right, I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do...jump," he jumped in place as example.

"Jump where?" Octavian questioned.

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it," the Doctor aimed the gun at the roof.

"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" Angel Bob asked from the radio.

"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

"And what would that be, sir?"

"Me!"

The Doctor fired at the gravity globe and made it explode...


End file.
